Coaching wheel turns full circle for Dwyer
TENNIS: Toowoomba’s tennis stocks have hit a winner with former leading player and coach Chris Dwyer returning to centre court.
Dwyer has resumed fulltime coaching at Toowoomba Tennis Association’s James St tennis centre after a sevenyear break and has also returned to local competition play.
Dwyer moved away from coaching in early 2011 after tutoring some of the city’s leading junior players including Mark Richards, Maddison Simmons, Arlena Day and Dayna Parkin.
“I left James St not long after the 2011 floods and I’d been out of playing and coaching since then,” Dwyer said this week.
“I just thought the time was right to have a break and a change but I’m enjoying getting back into it and I’m looking forward to being seriously involved in tennis again.”
Dwyer’s Toowoomba tennis journey began in 1990.
“I moved to Toowoomba just after I finished school, when I was playing and doing a bit of assistant coaching,” Dwyer said.
“I travelled to France in 1996 as a player and I also did some assisting coaching work there as well.
“It was all experience and it’s when I began really taking a liking to coaching.
“When I came home I was based in Toowoomba at James St full-time from 1997 to 2011.
“I was playing as well at that stage in events like the Easter Cup and I won a few Toowoomba Closed Championships. “I didn’t play a lot around the mid 2000s but I’m back playing in the local fixture competition now and really enjoying it.
“I’m on a bit of an undefeated run so far so it’s nice to be still hitting them pretty well after a long break.”
His last major win was in the state over-35 championships at the Gold Coast in 2009.
Dwyer is a Tennis Australia accredited club professional and in 2010 was appointed as a Tennis Australia talent development coach.
“It was Chris O’Mara who got me interested in getting back into coaching,” Dwyer said.
“His daughter Nicola is actually a member of the highperformance squad I have at present.
“The enjoyment of coaching never leaves you I suppose, especially helping kids try to reach their potential.”