Our Story
Why did we start We Do Tennis ?
Nigel was running a national tennis coaching company, which he had grown to over 40 venues and one of the most respected coaching providers in the industry. On one club visit Nigel sat in a small, miserable clubhouse and looked around at how poorly things were being done. The coaching programme at that venue was great, with over 200 children on four courts. The clubhouse had posters out of date, honours boards not completed, it could not even fill two of its courts for a club social. It was the realisation that tennis clubs needed help!
Matt & Nigel went to University together, started coaching at David Lloyd Teesside and have always been great friends. Nigel has even been best man at two of Matt’s weddings! The two of us discussed Nigel’s role and tennis club support over a few beers.
The next week – Matt surprised Nigel with a call and just said – “Lets do this!”, do what? "Let’s do tennis venues, but better". This was a major shock as Nigel is always the one with loads of ideas and goes off in crazy tangents. Matt is the sensible one. No risks.
We think the contrasting styles of us both is what makes We Do Tennis work, along with the great people of course. Matt oversees the ‘boring’ stuff and responsible for keeping Nigel on track. Difficult job.
Who We Help
- Players
- Parents
- Coaches
- Venues
- County Associations
- Lawn Tennis Association
Nigel Hunter
Nigel Hunter leads the company from a tennis club experience and coaching perspective. He is a former National champion in doubles and has represented England in the Four Nations. He is a Level 4 Performance coach and has completed many roles including Director of Tennis for Shropshire LTA. His experience is coaching and management having run clubs and coaching venues at many large tennis facilities. His most recent role was Programme Manager for inspire2coach ltd where he looked after a group of 40 tennis clubs and more than 60 coaches.
Matt Whitaker
Matt Whitaker is a qualified tennis coach of more than 20 years, and has completed many high profile operational, roles, most notably General Manager at Hallamshire Tennis Club, a 12 tennis court and 9 squash court facility in Sheffield. With a strong background in tennis, Matt tends to specialise in financial performance, operational procedures and staffing structure. Matt's CV includes many General Manager roles in the sports industry leading companies such as David Lloyd Leisure, Virgin Active, Bannatyne to name a few. These roles require high level people management and cover various areas including Food & Beverage operation, Fitness & Health and Safety.
Our Team
Nigel and Matt do the majority of the club support, we can call upon other experts to help with specific areas if required. The majority of our team are self employed tennis coaches, that deliver amazing sessions, up and down the country, the We Do Tennis way!