Fagan Tennis Academy

. At age 12 my mam explained to me that a trade was what was best for my career, happy days I thought to myself as all I want to do is play my table tennis and football. So most nights in the winter months I would queue up at our C.Y.M.S. Hall, waiting for the caretaker to arrive and open it. I would play table tennis for as many hours as I could…I just couldn’t get enough of it. My great friend Andrew ‘Buddy’ Matthews, who was an adult at that time, took me and a few friends all over the local area to play league table tennis. We had some amazing nights playing table tennis whether winning or losing. At that time we had very little money if any at all, but money was not our motivation. We had plenty of success over the years and this is how I came from an early age to realise that it’s possible to have a great time without money. I was fortunate enough to have 2 sons and 2 daughters in my life. When my wife Marian was at Skerries Community Centre she saw an ad for short tennis. I found this interesting due to my background in table tennis. We were also attracted to the fact that we could send the three kids to play together, and so the Tennis dream began. I always felt very fortunate that my workshop and house were together, I didn’t have to travel for work and I was always close to my family. It also allowed Marian more freedom to take the kids to Squads, training or competitions. Over the following years she was never off the road and did an amazing job. Without her tireless work we could never have allowed our kids to develop the way that they did. It was a team effort for sure. One day we realised that we had enough space behind the workshop to build our very own court but I thought to myself it was an impossible task. However, a few years later with the help of my brother, a local builder, and friends our dream was realised and our court became a reality. This opened to door to so many new exciting opportunities. I was very lucky to have met some very good tennis coaches including Roger Geraghty and Liam Cassidy who are still very good friends to this day. Roger would bring some of the better kids from Portmarnock and Malahide down every Saturday afternoon. Every week I looked on at some great coaching and loads of hitting. We were very fortunate with this as these Saturday sessions brought my kids on very quickly. Thus began my coaching career; what the coaches did on the Saturdays, I spent the rest of the week perfecting. This also kick started my own tennis career, I played for a year with Portmarnock and several years after that with Malahide tennis club, what a fantastic sport!! My kids won numerous tournaments (and lost loads, which is just as important), They all represented Leinster and Ireland regularly. My 2nd daughter Elaine spent 4 years on a scholarship coaching and playing tennis at Mississippi University. My youngest son, Barry, spent 5 years playing full time on professional tour. As he trained in several different countries such as Germany, Spain and the U.S., I was able to observe coaches from different countries, backgrounds and styles including coaches from the Gosling advanced Tennis Academy in the UK. Barry now works as an elite performance coach in Spain at the Pepe Imaz Tennis Academy. Pepe works with some of the best players frequently travelling the globe with them. Pepe was a top player himself but is also a highly skilled sports psychologist. He has developed a unique philosophy at his tennis academy in Spain and it is one which we at Fagan Tennis Academy believe in and strive to emulate.