Sheffield tennis club getting a move on Down Under for the Australian Open

Players, parents and coaches at Graves Health and Sports Centre have been challenged to move 12,900 miles between them, which is roughly the distance from their Sheffield base to sun-soaked Melbourne where the Australian Open is currently taking place.

The club want to complete the challenge by Finals Day next Sunday (21 February) and have already covered almost 10,000 chilly miles this side of the planet since they started on January 9.

“We were trying to come up with something that was very different to the first two lockdowns,” Head of Tennis Sam Salt explains.

"We had to do something else to get engagement levels. One day we said let’s go to Wimbledon but we got there in about 12 hours, so we said ‘Let’s go to the Australian Open’, which is crazy.”

Fourty-five members, from Sam’s two-year-old daughter Hannah to Roy and Shirley Whitham, who are 85 and 86 years old respectively, are helping the club average about 450 miles daily.

Chesterfield-based Sam, 31, who has been coaching at the club for five and a half years, says: “We are really, really going for it. It’s been great.

"Everybody said they have moved a lot more because of the challenge and they feel a lot happier. It’s had such a profound impact on a lot of families.”

Local schools have followed the club’s lead and taken on similar challenges to get active, Sam adds.

"It’s just so nice, it’s so good to hear our think tank has provided the opportunity for hope and optimism in such challenging times,” he says.

"It’s been lovely to hear that we have had a positive impact.”

The club’s efforts so far has seen them travel the distance to countries such as Brunei, India and Thailand.

There’s been no time to enjoy the beautiful scenery and hot temperatures, however, as they are a day behind schedule.

Sam says: “We have made it hard for ourselves by doing it as though we are actually travelling by moving through roads. We are putting in a massive effort now to increase the cycling and the running.

"We have educated the kids as well on the flags of the world and the currencies. There’s been a whole different side to it that we didn’t think of.”

With thousands of miles still to go, every step helps.

"The distances some people are doing are half a mile nipping down to the shops but they are the ones that are important because they would otherwise be in their house and the little bits add up,” says Sam.

"I’m super proud of everyone involved because it’s quite an incredible challenge to have to get up every day and I wasn’t expecting so many people to get so into it.

One member of the club who has shown extraordinary commitment since the beginning of the pandemic is 18-year-old coach Reuben Newman-Billington, who was crowned Young Person of the Year at the 2021 Yorkshire Tennis Awards with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) last month.

The former Meadowhead School pupil, who will begin studying history at the University of Nottingham in September, has spent his gap year working 12 hour shifts and creating lockdown activities to keep more than 50 families entertained, from physical challenges and memory games through to quizzes and artwork.

Reuben, from Woodseats, says: “It was really good to win it, it was really nice to be recognised in that regard and it’s great for my confidence and development as a coach.

"Graves was probably where I hit my first ball. Every day after school I remember going to Graves, it’s got that place in my heart.”

Sam, who nominated Reuben for the award, adds: “Reuben is just a fantastic person. For 18 years of age he’s the most incredible coach I have come across.

"He is solely responsible for so many players love of the game and is a focal point for all the positive stuff that goes on in this centre.”

A trip to this year’s Wimbledon final potentially awaits for Reuben, who is now through to the next stage of the LTA National Tennis Awards. He is also taking part in the club’s challenge by walking six miles every day and running regularly.

Reuben says: “It was really nice because I didn’t know anything about the nomination.

"Yorkshire is a massive county so I feel quite privileged. It’s nice to be recognised by Sam as well as my boss.”

It comes off the back of various player successes for the club recently across all age groups, despite what Sam admits has been an “incredibly challenging” year for tennis clubs everywhere.

Luke Hoyland, 14, and 10-year-old Jan Janda, who have been ranked among the top five players in Great Britain for their respective age groups, both finished Runner Up in national competitions last summer.

The men’s first team also reached the quarter finals of the Mens National Finals in 2020, while the under-12 girls team won the Team Tennis Title in at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton in July 2019.

Sam, who was crowned LTA Tennis Coach of the Year for the North of England for 2018, added: "It’s been quite hard for everyone in tennis to build up a head of steam.

“We are really proud of the fact Sheffield tennis is competing far and wide challenging nationally and getting success against other academies and cities who often have more opportunity, but our players have that Sheffield steel.”