Lesley with the Team GB in readiness for Shanghai World Games 07
Lesley is based at West Bridgeford Nottingham here are some contact details if you would like to get in touch with her.
For more information contact
Lesley Whitehead, Tennis Development Officer
email: lesley@west-bridgford-tennis-club.co.uk
telephone: (0)115 981 1699
Tom Styles Finalist in the Melton Times Sports Personality of the year . Watch this space for results next week, he is up against Footballers George Simpson and Paul Anderson.
Tom receiving his BBC Disabled Personality Award for 2007
Just had this in from Lesley at Westbridgeford Notts, she had taken a team to Italy.........
The team was Patrick Cox, Leicester, Michael Clarke, Nottingham, Joseph Eccles. Nottingham, & Alex Eustace, Nottingham. The tournament was in Vercelli in Northern Italy (1/2 way between Milan and Turin). This was the first time these players have represented GB and played abroad. The tournament was played on clay courts (again a first for the players) and as well as GB there were 12 players from Italy and 4 from Holland. The team enjoyed some great tennis, wonderful hospitality from the host club and made many new friends. Following the 3 days of tennis, the team finished with 3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze and 1 fourth place. A great achievement by everyone.
Tom with Mark Selby both were Sportsman of the year finalists at the Leicester Mercury Awards held at Demontfort Hall in January
On Feb 26th Tom was asked to give an interview to a journalist from the Guardian Newspaper here is that article.
The tennis player Tom Styles has found tennis a lifesaver Janet Murray Tuesday February 26, 2008 The Guardian I first realised I was different from other people when I was four. My brother was two years younger, but was learning to do things much more quickly than I was. I was diagnosed with moderate learning difficulties. My parents later found out I am on the autistic spectrum. I enjoyed my school, but I found it difficult, especially reading and writing. I got tired easily and bored of listening. I am lucky because everyone has always been nice to me. I have never been bullied and have a really supportive family. Sport has always been my passion. A teacher at school introduced me to tennis when I was 14. Since then, I have competed in a number of national competitions. In October, I travelled to Shanghai to compete in the Special Olympics world games and won two gold medals. It was a great experience but I did miss my mum. Since I started playing tennis, I have met a number of famous people, including Greg Rusedski, Andrew Castle and Jamie Murray. I have been nominated for many awards, including the BBC East Midlands Sports Awards last year, but I am most proud of being nominated as sportsperson of the year in the Leicester Mercury along with Martin Corry and Matt Selby. I felt so proud to be nominated as a regular sportsperson, nothing to do with my disability. I am far more confident now because of my tennis. I was at a party hosted by Cliff Richard, when I went up, tapped him on the shoulder and said: "Can I have a photo?" I'd never have done that before. I find social situations quite hard. My brother is really good and always invites me out with his mates, but I find it very difficult. I often don't understand what they are talking about. I would like to socialise more but most of my education has been away from Melton Mowbray where I live so it is difficult to travel to meet friends. Because of my disability, it is harder for me to meet girls. I do have a girlfriend at the moment. We met in Shanghai. She is really nice, but she lives in Aberdeen. It was quite heartbreaking when she had to fly back to the UK. In the future, I'd love to work with children. In a few weeks, I'm going back to my old primary school to coach children with learning disabilities in football and swimming. People have been so supportive to me. I'd like to give something back. · Tom Styles is studying for a sports foundation NVQ at Leicester College
Below picture of Tom with his doubles partner Peter Millar
Press Release
For Immediate Use: Monday, 8th October 2007
Team GB Tennis Players Secure Medals
At Special Olympics
Special Olympics Team GB Tennis Players won one Gold medal and secured the opportunity of three more Gold medals after Monday's second day of play in the tennis events at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China.
With all the tennis players at the world's premier sporting event for athletes with a learning disability placed in divisions against players of like tennis ability, Wirral's Peter Millar (Tranmere, Birkenhead) produced a whirlwind start for the British squad of six tennis players after the start of singles competition had been postponed on Sunday due to the effects of Typhoon Krosa.
Fifteen-year-old Millar struck Gold by winning both of his matches in his three-way Men's Singles round robin group. He defeated Jean Santana of Ecuador 6-2 and Joaquin Fuentes of Chile 6-1 in contests played out as one conventional tie-break set to top the podium, having only taken up tennis for people with learning disabilities less than four years ago.
Leicestershire's Thomas Styles (Melton Mowbray) also put himself in with a chance of Gold in his Men's Singles group, in which he is playing a straight knockout tournament. Styles won his opening match against Youssef Gadalla of Egypt 6-1 to earn himself a place in the play-off for Gold and Silver on Wednesday against Salvatore Famao of Germany.
Also progressing to play-offs for Gold and Silver were Scotland's Stephen McEwan (East Kilbride) and Wales' Lucy Pethig (Gelli, Rhondda).
McEwan began his three-way round robin group with a 6-4 win over Theodor Knuth of Germany and will now face Australia's Peter Kerin to decide the Gold and Silver medals.
Meanwhile Pethig edged out Tanja Helminger of Germany 7-5 in her Women's Singles knockout group of four players and goes forward to play one of two Chinese players, either Yalan Xue or Lanping Zhang, in the play-off for the Gold medal.
Scotland's Kevin Hogan (Glasgow) will play off for Bronze in his Men's Singles division after a narrow 4-6 loss to Germany's Malthias Gruenauer on Monday. Hogan will take on Hans Anders Vanbrackle of the United States in his bid for Bronze.
The only British player to have a day off on Monday was Leicestershire's Zara Jurenko (Muxloe). Jurenko will begin her bid for a medal on Tuesday against Woralak Boon Mee of Thailand before taking on Karla Galan of El Salvador on Wednesday.
Also on Tuesday Team GB players will resume their bid for doubles medals, having won two out of three opening doubles matches on Sunday.
Team GB tennis players won a total of seven medals, including three golds, at the last Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin in 2003.
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Press Release
For Immediate Use: Sunday, 7th October 2007
Team GB Tennis Players Make Winning Starts At Special Olympics
Special Olympics Team GB Tennis Players enjoyed a successful first day in their preliminary round robin matches on Sunday at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China, winning two out of three doubles contests.
With all the tennis players at the world's premier sporting event for athletes with a learning disability placed in divisions against players of like tennis ability, Wirral's Peter Millar (Tranmere, Birkenhead) and Leicestershire's Thomas Styles (Melton Mowbray) got off to a superb start in their Men's Doubles round robin group, defeating China's Cheng Wu and Enxiang Liu 4-1, 5-4 (4). All matches are being played in a short sets format. The victory was particularly pleasing for Millar and Styles as they had lost 7-0 in a deciding tie-break when they met the Chinese pair in the pre-competition divisioning on Friday.
Millar and Styles will now play Chile's Daniel Sierra and Joaquin Fuentes in their second Men's Doubles match.
On a day when the scheduled start of the Men's and Women's Singles preliminary matches was postponed due to the extreme weather caused by Typhoon Krosa there was another British win in the Women's Doubles, Leicestershire's Zara Jurenko (Muxloe) and Wales' Lucy Pethig (Gelli, Rhondda) defeating China's Lu Han and Min Min Huang 5-4(3), 4-1. Jurenko and Pethig will take on another Chinese pairing, Yan An and Qinghua Lin, in their second Women's Doubles round robin pool match.
However, there was a narrow defeat for Scotland's Stephen McEwan (East Kilbride) and Kevin Hogan (Glasgow) in their opening Men's Doubles contest. McEwan and Hogan lost out in a deciding tie-break 4-5, 4-0, 0-1(2) to the Slovakian pairing of Jaroslav Kulina and Milan Pumpa.
McEwan and Hogan's remaining Men's Doubles round robin pool matches will be against teams from Egypt and Ecuador.
The six tennis players and their Team GB coaches Lesley Whitehead and Geraint Richards, who all came through training weekends and events organised by The Tennis Foundation in their preparations for Shanghai, are part of a Special Olympics Team GB squad of 159 athletes with learning disabilities and 50 coaches taking part in the 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games.
Team GB tennis players won a total of seven medals, including three golds, at the last Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin in 2003.
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We have a great club here in the East Midlands, we meet once a month at the West Bridgeford Tennis Club for a get together. Please contact Lesley Whitehead @
Lesley@west-bridgford-tennis-club.co.uk
. Lesley with TeamGB
TOM AND ZARA,, LEAVING FOR SHANGHAI
Tennis Athletes Thomas Styles & Zara Jurenko
Location: Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Location: Nottingham
Coach: Lesley Whitehead
Now both in their early twenties, Tom and Zara went to the same special school in Leicestershire. They were both given the opportunity to try tennis and showed a real talent for it. Now they are at a standard where they can match any player in mainstream of similar ability. Tom and Zara are always keen to play as much as they possibly can because they are always looking to improve. Both have regular individual coaching and belong to different tennis clubs.
Regional coach Lesley Whitehead says at the heart of why Tom and Zara are so successful is their love of the game. They are extremely dedicated and also ambitious and want to win. Both take their sport very seriously and approach it like true professionals, not only in their game but also their attitude towards opponents. In their approach to competing and their on-court conduct she would compare them to some of the sport’s greats. She says Tom is a ‘gentleman’ player like Federer, and Zara is like Justine Ennan, just gets on with the game without any fuss or ego. Zara always impresses with her appreciation for her opponent’s skill. Even if she beat someone 6-0 she would talk about how well they played.
In a match Tom and Zara are both tenacious and have an all-round skill with no real weaknesses. Their learning difficulty means they can sometimes struggle to keep score consistently. But in some ways this means they are even more focussed on each point they play.
Tom and Zara play singles and also mixed doubles together. They make a great team on court and are very tuned in to each other. Zara is the National British Tennis Foundation women’s champion (Learning Disability).
At a national training weekend they met former player Mark Cox, who is going to Shanghai as a SO ambassador and who is also from Leicestershire. Zara also met him when he awarded her a prize for sporting achievement run by a regional newspaper.
Tom is at college. Zara works as a fitness instructor in the gym of the Hilton Hotel’s ‘Living Well’ centre. Their study and work commitments mean a certain amount of frustration right now in the run-up to Shanghai when they want every opportunity to train and improve they game. They have to rely a lot on the goodwill Tom’s college and Zara’s employer, both of whom are very supportive of the players and their chance to play for their country.
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