Luke Hodgkin is an Aintree tennis fanatic who gets to pass on his knowledge of the sport for work and was recently nominated for a Tennis Coach of the Year award. He speaks with Liam McNally.
What’s your connection to Melton-Aintree?
I am the head tennis coach of Aintree Tennis Club. My coaching business is called In2tennis.
What do you like about where you live?
Aintree is an amazing place to live. It has so many parks, great schools and plenty of shops with a variety of foods close to home.
What, if anything, would you change about where you live?
Aintree is perfect as it is. From my tennis perspective though. Aintree Tennis Club started as public courts built by Woodlea. Since it was not purpose built to be a tennis club it is lacking basic facilities that come standard in other clubs. For example there are no shelters so if it rains we have to take refuge under an umbrella. There is a Lack of chairs for spectators to watch, No electronic gate system and no club house. That’s what I would love to see change in the future. But you can’t have everything. We are very grateful to have 10 beautiful blue hardcourts and hope that one day longer term council will help us improve the experience for all our members.
Where is your favourite local place to spend time?
I love going for a walk in Werribee gorge. Its amazing rock faces are as nice as the Grampians and it’s so close to home. Listening to the water trickle down the river and getting some fresh air is very relaxing after a busy week of coaching.
Tell us something people would be surprised to know about you…
I invented a retractable tennis backboard. It allows players to hit up to 40 shots per minute and sets up in 10 seconds. In my spare time I like to learn how to code and I really enjoy graphic design and web development. I am currently working on a tennis app that will help all tennis clubs by connecting members to new hitting partners, creating social groups and record scores from practice matches. It’s called Tennis Mastery. It’s going to be a game changer for all tennis clubs and I hope it will be ready early 2023.
What does the Aintree Tennis Club/Tennis coaching mean to you?
I started coaching at Aintree tennis club in December 2019. Shortly after starting, COVID restrictions made things really challenging for the next couple of years. At the time, there was so much uncertainty. So, to be back on the court now means everything to me. After opening up again our club grew rapidly. My students grew from zero to 366 over the past year thanks to our unique program with amazing equipment. We use backboards, ball machines, hitting tees, targets and music to make our lessons really fun. It’s like a tennis kid’s dream. When I was a tennis kid I would have loved all this equipment so it means a great deal to be able to pass on my passion for tennis to the kids of our community.
What did it mean to you to be nominated as a finalist for coaching excellence at the Victorian tennis awards?
It is a dream come true to work at such a busy and amazing tennis club. We have worked hard and created an amazing program that the kids love. So to be recognised as a finalist is something that I’m really proud of. We felt like we were going above and beyond and doing really unique things but to actually be noticed and recognised feels really amazing. It inspires me and motivates me to achieve more great things in the future.
