Written by Shekinah and Philpott Children’s Tennis
The Impact Along The Way: Malisha’s Journey From Participant To Coach
With this years theme “it takes every piece to build an impact – and that includes you”, Malisha’s journey to becoming a certified coach is a perfect example of this! From a spark of joy from playing tennis with her mom, to the Philpott coaches who nurtured her skills and motivated her to coach. We see how together as a community we can shape the leaders of tomorrow.
The First Piece In The Puzzle: Malisha’s Introduction To Tennis
Malisha from a young age was always encouraged to try everything, like sailing or figure skating, and of course tennis. She practised with her mom at a nearby squash court, and learned the basics of tennis through YouTube videos. But after awhile of being self taught, Malisha wanted to develop her tennis skills in a group environment. After some research, her mom discovered Philpott Children’s Tennis. That summer, when Malisha was nine, she signed up with a friend who also played tennis recreationally. She enjoyed it so much, she continued to sign up for the summer program year after year.
Finding The Next Piece: The Leadership Program
In the summer of 2023, Malisha and her mom received the Philpott summer newsletter, and looked through all the events and programs available. That’s when she came across the Leadership Program, unfortunately because of her late birthday, she could not participate that year. But she was more than happy to have extra time to continue building her tennis skills for the next year.
Malisha started the Leadership Program in October 2024. The program was every Saturday from 1 to 4pm at L’Amoureaux Tennis Centre. But since she was also attending a music school program, she could only participate from 2 to 4pm. She was very grateful for the flexibility the leadership program offered her.
Connecting The Pieces: Growth Through Coaching and Community
When she got there she was very inspired by the playing skills of everyone and how they all came from different tennis backgrounds, “That really motivated me because I also wanted to keep up with the standards”, she expressed. However she also learned from the program that it’s not only about playing ability, but having a positive attitude and being a friendly person: “its good to have the social qualities, the soft skills”.
Her tennis, coaching, and leadership skills improved alongside each other. Malisha attributes all the skills she learned to every coach in the Leadership Program: “Stephan, Ricky, Stephanie, Richard, they all kept me motivated and inspired to improve in tennis and in coaching – all in different ways”.
Coach Stephanie’s positive attitude and enthusiasm for tennis inspired her to share the same passion and positive outlook when coaching and learning new skills. The support and feedback from coaches Stephan and Richard shaped the type of coach she wanted to be. Coach Ricky’s guidance taught her how consistent practice helps improve tennis techniques.
Her fellow leaders in training were welcoming and eager to learn, just as much as her, “I was looking forward to going there every Saturday, everyone was really positive and welcoming.”
The Final Pieces Falls Into Place: Reflecting On The Journey
Now Malisha is an assistant coach at Jimmy Simpson, and is working alongside Abeishan, who was one of her coaches when she was a participant. With the skills and experience she gained from the Leadership Program, Malisha feels well equipped this summer as a new coach, “I haven’t felt like I’m a new coach – I feel like I’ve been doing this for years”.
From being a self taught tennis player, with the help of her mom, to developing her skills in the Philpott summer program, then the Leadership Program, to now coaching others, Malisha reflects on how everyone who supported her along the way made her journey worthwhile, “the leadership participants, the coaches, my coaching team. They all impacted me in a really positive way”.
To learn more about our Leadership program, email info@philpottchildrenstennis.org and someone from our team will be in touch with you.
