TENNIS TITLE

Rutherglen Lawn Tennis Club is officially home to the best coach in Britain.

Jonny Wilcox, head coach at the Rutherglen club, received the UK-wide award - the highest possible accolade in British Tennis - at Wimbledon this week.

Jonny was recognised for his hard work and enthusiasm which has seen club membership soar to an all-time high of 290 members.

Aged just 25, he oversees the work of a team of three other coaches who collectively deliver weekly tennis lessons to more than 110 children. Of those, three juniors are involved in the West of Scotland county programme and two in the national programme.

Jonny masterminded the club’s sponsorship deal with the McDonald’s Rutherglen franchise to fund free tennis lessons to hundreds of local children through the club’s expansive schools programme.

He has also formed an exciting partnership with the Fuse Youth Café, giving children from the east end of Glasgow the chance to play tennis at Rutherglen, while up-skilling their workforce to allow them to deliver tennis as part of their year-round programme of activities.

A level four coach, Jonny is currently helping to deliver the West of Scotland county programme, national training camps and high performance coaching at David Lloyd’s Renfrew gym.

On Tuesday, at the home of tennis, he received his Aegon British Coach of the Year award from Leon Smith, Great Britain Davis Cup captain and head of men’s tennis for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

He said: “It was life changing experience. I’m still in shock from the whole thing.

“To win and to have the LTA endorse what I am doing in Rutherglen and the West of Scotland, it’s the highest endorsement I could get. It was so good.

“It is a burst of energy to keep doing what we are doing, not just me, but the committee, members and the coaching team at Rutherglen.”