Auteur: Venetia Thompson

I was born into a tennis playing family. My great grandfather, John Moyer Heathcote was a real tennis player. My most treasured possessions are a cup dated July 1882 presented to him by the M.C.C. for having been continuously amateur tennis champion for 23 years and a portrait of him by CAV Orchardson holding a racquet and standing in a real tennis court. I lived in his house for the first four years of my life. In my father”s study was the original tennis ball made by his wife in a glass box. My father later gave it to the M.C.C. Tennis was always a treat and a passion but my career was in nursing which I pursued until three weeks before my first son was born. It was only when my four children were in their teens that I felt the desire to return to work. As a nurse, I particularly enjoyed working with children. It was my love of children and tennis that inspired me to qualify as a tennis coach through the LTA and PTR.