Sue Auger is a fantastic tennis coach and she has been coaching for 25 years. She has won the Oxfordshire LTA for the Disability Award of the Year 2019She is Tennis Manager at White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre, Abingdon. She also coaches the DSActive session there. Please click here for further information on the session.

What’s your coaching background?

I worked in childcare for 25 years but always had a passion for tennis and played well into my early twenties. Due to work commitments I stopped playing and started again when I started working in the crèche here at the Leisure Centre. Eventually a job came up in the Tennis Department and I swapped from childcare to tennis. I am now a Level 2 coach and oversee over 500 children in our tennis programme. I love developing our disability tennis programme, which now includes a variety of different types of tennis lessons for all ages and abilities. I am very proud to say we have just been awarded a Tennis Oxfordshire LTA award for our DSActive session and we will no be getting put through to the regional finals!

What are your favourite sports?

My favourite sport, apart from tennis, are badminton and I am a massive cricket fan too!

What do you enjoy about sports?

I love sports because they are a great way of socialising, learning new skills, keeping fit, and having a lot of fun.

What do you think are the perspectives of coaching people with Down’s syndrome?

Coaching anyone with Down’s syndrome requires you to try and understand the condition from their perspective and knowing how it affects them as an individual so you can adapt the session to meet their needs. Making the sessions lively and fun is also important to ensure the participants are kept motivated is vital.

What is your motivation for coaching people with Down’s syndrome?

My motivation for coaching players with Down’s syndrome is that it is so rewarding, we have seen the players who attend improve greatly over the past year and are now starting to compete. Also the sessions are a great deal of fun to coach as the children are genuinely engaged and want to learn.

What advice would you give other coaches who are coaching people with Down’s syndrome?

My advice to coaches who are coaching down’s syndrome players is have a go! Listen to the players needs so you can ensure they are getting the most from the sessions and don’t lower your expectations they will surprise you!

Thank you Sue! If you want to write a guest blog for the DSActive website, please get in touch with the DSActive team by emailing dsactive@downs-syndrome.org.uk