26 January 2023 | Tennis Victoria

Wendy O’Connor has been coaching for over 30 years at the Diamond Creek Tennis Club. Wendy has been at the Diamond Creek Tennis Club for her whole tennis coaching career. Wendy coaches juniors, teens and adults in a variety of programs. She offers private coaching, squad training, cardio sessions, Hot Shots and the newly introduced unique Mum’s and Bubs program.

Knowing what it is like to be a Mum and maintain balanced lifestyle, Wendy introduced the program to support local Mums in the area in a safe environment. The Mum’s and Bubs program offers free childcare, in a space where Mum’s can see their children who are being looked after.

“Mums and bubs is a unique program that we run. You have to have a team of people. We have the Head Coach, someone who looks after the kids and an Admin officer so between the three of us, it’s that team that keeps it going. Many mums come in and their kids are there if they need to and they can come off whenever, which helps with mental health knowing they are close by.”

“We really understand how they might feel. They might come into tennis, they might have had a terrible morning with the kids and whatever has gone wrong, but they get to tennis and they walk out on the court and they think of only tennis and that’s our thing; you’re there to have a good time, you’re there to enjoy it, maybe some frustration goes out and then what we do is we just make it fun.”

The Mum’s and Bubs program is bringing more women into tennis as it is accessible for the family.

“The program is awesome, because we have all the ladies come along and they can have their kids there with them while they’re actually playing.”

“I think if you have the program that works then it just keeps networking and flowing.”

Another part of Wendy’s areas is to assist in coaching new coaches.

“We are pretty involved at trying to increase the ladies coaching. We have a couple of ladies that do a bit of coaching. We love what we do. When we see a smile on a ladies face, a mum’s face and they’re out hitting tennis balls and their kids are happy. That’s what we love.”

“I think we are certainly working hard for women in tennis, and it is fairly male dominated. We work on the barriers, and we are encouraging and breaking these barriers.”

Wendy took her Hot Shots kids to the Australian Open last week. The kids played on 1573 Arena and had a blast.

“They just loved it and if they can remember that as their day at the tennis, that’s amazing. They will be very proud of the fact that they came to the tennis, and they’ll continue their Hot Shots and who knows where it all goes from there.”

The pathway from Hot Shots to Juniors ensures young kids have access to continue tennis.

“We have a pathway from Hot Shots to Squads. This age group of around 12-15 year old’s is booming and we have a lot of girls in the program.”

“It’s important to keep girls in the sport at that age. Part of coaching girls is observing how they feel and you can work on that as well as their game. That’s what our achievement is.”

“It’s about enjoying it and promoting what you love and making them feel the love for the game, that’s what it’s all about.”

#VicsAtTheAO

HotShots team photos on Day 3 of the 2023 Australian Open at Melbourne Park, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. MANDATORY PHOTO CREDIT Tennis Australia/ JAY TOWN