Passion for a sport is contagious, and just as Carla Farina picked it up from her tennis coach when she was eight years old, so she now passes her love for tennis on to those she coaches.
The 29-year-old owner of Game Set Match Tennis Academy at Craighall Tennis Club has been a coach for 12 years and a player for 21.
Farina has always loved being on the court and could only bear having an office job for one year before going into full-time coaching.
“Tennis is a sport for life, you can play it until you are old,” the former environmental scientist said.
Every week Farina coaches players from three years old all the way to 83 and has a balance of children and adults.
“I would not say I prefer coaching one age over another. I enjoy giving youngsters a taste for tennis, teaching them skills and turning them into tournament players.”
Farina also loves not worrying about teaching technique and enjoys the long and tiring rallies she can have with adults or even the great young players in her high-performance group.
“The youngsters also learn discipline and life skills at tennis. They learn to never give up.”
The academy has only been around for 10 months but the players Farina has attracted have shown much dedication.
Almost every day the courts are busy from morning until the afternoon as the young and the old come for private lessons with Farina.
Fitness is an important element in Farina’s coaching and through fun techniques, she has helped her players enjoy building core and muscle strength at a mini gym just off the courts which even includes weights.
One or two players have even developed a love for suicides (running back and forth on the court and touching the lines), something unheard of at most tennis academies.
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