Meet The Team
Ashley Neaves
Head Tennis Coach
LTA L4 - Senior Performance Coach
LTA Coach Tutor
Girls 10U & 11U County Captain
After four years of managing the award winning programme and team at the Portsmouth Tennis Centre, Ashley decided to make the leap to set up his own coaching business, The Avenue Tennis.
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Ashley started playing tennis at the age of 8 and continued through to his late teens. He competed on the British Tour, ITF circuit and in the national championships. At the age of 16, Ashley started coaching and hitting with some of his club's junior players to make some money to support his competition expenses. Coaching soon became his passion and at 18 years of age, he decided to take on a full time career in coaching.
During Ashley's coaching career, he has developed players from beginner at the age of 4 to national champion at the age of 10. He acted as Junior County Cup captain for 4 years and has worked with international level players. Alongside his performance coaching, Ashley has always had a passion for developing grassroots tennis. He enjoys working with tots through to veterans of all abilities. He coordinates the Portsmouth Disability Tennis Network which involves Visually Impaired Tennis, Downs Syndrome Tennis, Wheelchair Tennis and much more.
Ashley is now a qualified LTA Coach Tutor, training coaches through their Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications as well as delivering Regional Coach Forums and LTA Junior Programme Training Days.
Achievements
BRITISH TENNIS COACH OF THE YEAR 2017
Hants & IOW LTA Club of the Year 2017 (PTC)
South West LTA Disability Programme of the Year 2016
Darren Toop UK Young Coach of the Year 2011
Oli Barnes
Tennis Coach
LTA Level 4
Oli has been coaching tennis full time for over 20 years (we know, he doesn’t look old enough!) and has had a vast amount of experience in developing high performing junior players, including county champions and national competitors. Oli is currently the County Captain for Hampshire & IOW 8&U Team.
Before starting at The Avenue, Oli helped to develop the tennis programme at Totton & Ealing Tennis club and did great work with their Junior adult teams.
Through his hard work, passion for growing the game and developing players, Oli was awarded DEVELOPMENT COACH OF THE YEAR for Hampshire & IOW LTA.
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All of our coaches are LTA qualified and accredited, meaning that they have trained to the standards of the Lawn Tennis Association's criteria and have valid First Aid certificates, DBS checks and have competed a Child Safeguarding course as a minimum.
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Each of our coaches and assistants have experience in coaching a wide range of players and specialise in different areas of the game. They are passionate about giving you a great experience on the court and helping you to meet your goals.
Paul Skipp
Professional Stringer
Racquets At The Avenue
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Paul has been stringing since 1988. He became a member of the United States Racquet Stringers Association in 1992, travelling to the U.S.A. to take and pass the Certified Stringers qualification. The following year he passed the Certified Racquet Technician test, which is now called the Master Racquet Technician (M.R.T.). This is an on-going yearly test. Paul is the UK Manager for the the European Racquet Stringers Association (ERSA), certified to the ERSA Pro Tour Level 2, and runs stringing course for the ERSA within the UK. Since 2004, Paul has been a member of the stringing team at Wimbledon, where he became the Head Stringer of the team in 2014. He is also a member of the Babolat stringing team that will be used for the Futures, Challengers and ATP tournaments held in the UK. Outside of the UK he has worked at the French Open since 2011, Indian Wells and Madrid Masters since 2017.
Paul also had the experience of working with Priority 1 (P1), who are known for their excellence in stringing and customisation, at the Madrid and Italian Masters events. There he strung for Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Marcos Baghdatis.
To get your racquet strung or customised by Paul (or to find out more about his services) you can call him on 07973 851762. Alternatively, you can visit his website by clicking his logo below.