Our Coaches & Instructors

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.

James has been playing tennis for 18 years and has 10 years of coaching experience. After starting playing tennis at the age of 7 (at The Avenue Lawn Tennis & Squash Club!!) he progressed to compete for the junior and adult teams, eventually becoming the Men’s A Team captain.

James qualified as an LTA Level 3 coach 5 years ago. He has recently returned to England after two years of coaching in Sydney at a prestigious tennis club in Manly, where he gained valuable experience in coaching the high school academy squad, and competing against other teams in Sydney as captain.

James has experience in coaching all ages and abilities and has been lucky enough to work with a wide range of nationalities. He is known for working players hard and has a passion for intense training as seeing his players progress.

Hello, my name is Andrew Palmer and I have been a member at the club since I was 5 years old having played tennis since I was 4. I have represented the Avenue competitively at all levels up to under 16 and in the last 4 years I have starting coaching on the program as well.

I have been studying sports fitness and development at college for the past two years and this year will be taking a sport coaching course at college.

Becoming Junior Captain is something that I would take great pride in doing because it would be giving the youth a chance to improve and give them more time playing tennis.

I’m really keen to support the young people in the club enjoy their tennis and make some good friends along the way. I’ve got 2 daughters aged 15yrs and 9yrs and understand how important it is for them to have fun playing tennis. I would welcome any ideas from the juniors and parents as we look to develop what we offer children & young people.

Mike started playing squash at Kenilworth squash club, Warwickshire in 1973 aged 14 for something to do in the winter when he couldn’t play tennis.
Within 6 weeks of picking up a racket he was playing for Warwickshire u/16 in the junior inter county championships.

From there he progressed finishing his junior career as the Welsh no.1 in the 1978 world junior championships and reached the last 8 of the individual event.
As a senior Mike played inter county squash for Warwickshire, then from 1986 Cornwall, in 1982 he made his full senior international debut for Wales.

Mike is an experienced level 3 squash & racketball coach with extensive experience, he is available now for Adult 1-1 Squash & Racketball Coaching.

Gillian has been teaching Pilates for over 17 years, she qualified with the Body Control Pilates Academy and attends regular conferences and courses to maintain her professional standard of training. Classes are mixed ability with exercises tailored for individual needs.
Gillian brings her own unique style to each class ensuring the classes are varied and fun. She was a nurse and midwife and has a background in exercise and health. She now combines a business running personal development training and is the author of several books. Her focus is on creating a healthier mind and body for her clients in a relaxed and enjoyable way.

John has an exercise and sports background and has coached elite athletes over many years near Windsor. John has been teaching for over 17 years, he qualified with the Body Control Pilates Academy. John is also a certified Back4Good® practitioner. He focuses on general health and clinical Pilates and specifically for people with back or health issues.

I am passionate about healthy lifestyle choices, sport and fitness, especially running half marathons, mountain biking, snowboarding & windsurfing.
I enjoy helping others to reach their potential.

I am a Level 2 Gym, Spinning and Stand Up Paddle Boarding Instructor. I work for K66 an importer of water sports products. I race for the Fanatic Team in stand-up paddling around the country and enjoy time on my road and mountain bikes. My original passion remains windsurfing and is the reason I live on Hayling Island with my family.

I have been a fitness instructor and personal trainer at the Avenue for over 20 years. Whilst covering a wide range of fitness training, for all ages, including circuit training, spinning, and resistance training, my major interests are nutrition and fitness training for the older person (50plus).

My name is Jan, I am one of the team of Fitness Instructors we have at the Avenue.
I have been a member of the Club for approx. 30 years, although my career was in finance, I qualified as a Fitness Instructor in 2013. My passion is teaching classes, I am lucky enough to be involved with the Avenue Fitness Team where I teach Circuit Training, HIITS, and Kettlebells. I also work and teach at two other gyms.