Shaw Park Tennis Players and Coaches Go International!
The Shaw Park Tennis Centre has been invited to supply a number of tennis players for a New Caledonian Tennis Tournament.
For the past few years, the Tennis Club of Mont Dore has been actively enticing players from France and Australia to provide competition for the players in New Caledonia. Last year Shaw Park tennis players Jonnie Bell and Joel Hunter were invited to compete in the club championships. The two young players were so well received, and so popular, that they have been invited back again with 5 additional players.
This year coach Gareth Keating will travel as a player and coach of the group. When asked about the tour Gareth says “I am excited that we have been asked to supply players for the event”.
“I know the team will step up and try to give back to the club in different ways to say thank you. We will be energized to be on court with the members and juniors of the club, and try to make some friends and memories by making tennis fun!”
The President of the Mont Dore Tennis Club was very simple in his request for players. “We would like to invite players that have the correct spirit. It is very important to have a balance of being competitive and enjoying life. Our junior players today are still talking about Jonnie Bell – one year later!”
With this in mind, the players chosen to represent Shaw Park in New Caledonia are:
- Jonnie Bell
- Taylor Madgwick
- Rachael Tredoux
- Brianna Thompson
- Bella Spring
- Gareth Keating
- And Kaden Hensel (ex tour player and current coach at BBC)
Touring players from Shaw Park Tennis Centre:
Jonnie Bell has grown up playing tennis at the Shaw Park and Everton Tennis Centres. He is now a University student studying a Bachelor of Exercise and Movement Science. Jonnie graduated from Nudgee College in 2013 having won the GPS team tennis premiership (Queenslands top schoolboy honour). On top of his university studies, Jonnie is now the Head Coach of Padua College Firsts team, and also squad and private coach for some of Shaw Park’s strongest junior players. He recently went on a tour to Queensland’s State Age Championship. Each year Jonnie leads a tour in Victoria with Richard Howes (former Head Coach of Bris Boys Grammar).
Taylor Madgwick has been a coach with Tennis Gear at Everton and Shaw Park for the past three years. After playing competitive tennis in Brisbane for the past few years, Taylor recently returned from a short trip to France where he travelled around the country playing tennis and exploring the country. Taylor is an experienced Tennis Australia recognized Junior Development Coach and he has a strong following of juniors around the Shaw Park Tennis Club. Taylor’s future will see him return to Evreux AC in France and paly club tennis in 2015. He is happy to earn a living coaching, playing and travelling with his tennis and passion for the game.
Rachael Tredoux is currently studying a Bachelor of Business Management at the University of Queensland. Rachael was one of Australia’s top junior players through out her childhood and rose to the ranking of #20 in Australia for professional women’s tennis. With a WTA ranking as high as 600 in the world Rachael has chosen to go back to her studies so she can combine her love of tennis and sport with her academics. Recently Rachael has been the Captain and Coach of the Shaw Park Sharks Tennis Team that has won the Queensland competition two years in a row and competed at the Australian Open.
Brianna Thompson is currently ranked number 96 in Australia for women’s tennis. At only 17 years of age Bri is trying to finish her final year of High School at All Hallows College while developing her tennis. Bri’s goal is to follow in her brothers footsteps and compete at the highest level of inter collegiate tennis in the USA. To win a full scholarship to a top university in America is an achievable target for Bri as she tries to balance her final year of school while still developing her tennis.
Bella Spring was a top tennis junior in Queensland in her earlier years. At Clayfield College, Bella was a top athlete in a number of sports including touch football, athletics, cross country and tennis. Over the past few years Bella has been lucky enough to tour through France several times playing tennis, travelling and learning the language and culture. In the Summer of 2013 she played a number of tournaments while travelling with the Harvard Mens Tennis Team through rural France. Bella loves travel, tennis and discovering new places.
Gareth Keating has five years of experience in the French tournament system having worked as a tennis coach in Nice, France at the ISP Academy. He was a -4/6 player and played competitively for several years throughout his time in France. Gareth played for four years for French Club “Istres”. In division 1B, Gareth was able to travel France playing semi-professional tennis against Monte Carlo, Club de Paris and other top clubs in France.
As a coach, Gareth has been travelling with some of the world’s top doubles players. In 2014, his players Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen made the finals of the Australian Open defeating Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt and the Bryan Brothers along the way. In June this year Gareth was invited to continuing travelling with the Pro team for the Grass court season in the UK. He was able to coach and assist at the Queens Club, S’Hertogenbosch in Holland and finally Wimbledon where the team lost in 4 sets to French Open champions Benneteau and Vasselin.
Kaden Hensel is a former tour player that reached the highest levels of professional tennis. After an outstanding College Tennis Career in the USA, Kaden achieved NCAA All American status in 2007 and 2008 for singles and doubles. Kaden had an amazing amount of success on tour and reached a career high of #370 in Singles and #121 in doubles. Kaden has played and won a match in doubles at Grand Slam level (Australian Open) and has played a number of current tour level pro tennis players. Kaden was also a doubles partner with Bernard Tomic in 2010. Kaden is now working at the Brisbane Boys College as a Senior Tennis Coach as he develops one of Australia’s best High School tennis programs. We are excited for him to join the Shaw Park team as our representative of top level Australian tennis players.
