Richard Morley is the affable resident tennis pro at The Club. Originally from a small village in Derbyshire, Rich was working in Oman around a dozen years ago; the decision to visit a friend in Abu Dhabi before leaving the Middle East turned out to be a life-changing move – a couple of weeks spent using the facilities at The Club and a chance dinner conversation saw Rich being offered a job. He has been a near-permanent fixture here ever since
A SEMI-professional player in the UK, Rich represented his county at junior and senior level. After being spotted by a French team when just 17, he spent a year playing successfully in VW ratings tournaments in France; he also has a wealth of experience as a “hitter” for the LTA, facing off against some of the country’s top players. Based at the Watchorn Tennis Club in Derbyshire, Rich learnt his trade under the expert tutelage of one of the LTA’s top coaches, Ashley Broomhead, and he coached young players at clubs, schools and colleges all over Derbyshire.
With his wife, Julie, and young son, Billy (nearly two), nicely settled and living on-site with him at The Club, Rich has what many would consider to be the perfect job – he gets to spend his time being paid to play a sport that he loves. We take a look at a typical day to see if the reality lives up to the dream …
8am: Showered, breakfasted and on court by this time, Rich has all of his equipment set up and is ready for the first lessons of the day. Living in an apartment on-site means that the daily commute most of us have to endure is not an issue.
His students in the morning are primarily businessmen and women getting a quick session in before work and housewives taking a welcome break from the daily grind. Rich is in such demand that he can only run lessons of 45 minutes: “Ideally, I would like to be able to spend longer with all my clients – but there are so many members and I have to try to accommodate everyone.”
11am: Morning lessons end now, Rich takes advantage of a quiet period to catch up on phone calls, answer any enquiries and generally deal with administration.
12pm: Time for a quick bite to eat and, more importantly, a chance to spend some quality time with his young son – lessons don’t restart until mid-afternoon. “Working split shifts has its advantages and disadvantages,” smiles Rich. “I get to catch up with my family and my sister, Rachel, who also lives in Abu Dhabi. I sometimes even find time for a quick siesta, which is nice. On the other hand, I work until late in the evening so don’t often get to enjoy the wonderful nightlife that Abu Dhabi has to offer.”
3.30pm: Back on the court, afternoon sessions involve Rich coaching small groups of junior players. He runs back-to-back 45-minute classes, with a maximum of four players per class; this ensures everyone gets sufficient ‘face-time’ and benefits fully from his experience. With over 150 registered juniors, these classes are very popular and there is a long waiting list to join in the fun.
8pm: It’s getting late but Rich still finds time to squeeze in a couple of private lessons: “I do a lot of private coaching and really enjoy the biomechanics of the game, working out why people are getting it wrong – what they need to do in order to correct the problem and implementing a plan is my speciality.”
9.30pm: After a long day on the courts, it’s finally time to grab some dinner and relax before getting ready to start all over again.
Final thoughts: “Abu Dhabi is an exciting place to live and my job at The Club has provided me and my family with a great quality of life. It is really fulfilling to be able to work with kids and juniors from different cultures and countries and see them progress to a good standard. My motto is to help anyone get the best out of their ability and I feel very proud that over the years I have done a good job in developing the tennis here at the club.”
Jon Muller
