Hi, my name is Anna Bayman, a GKT LUSL team member and I am running for the position of Women’s GKT captain.

 With my unwavering commitment and love for the team, I would like to take the time to reflect on both successes as well as challenges we have faced as a team this year followed by some new ideas which I believe will be beneficial both on and off the court.

First and foremost, this year has been filled with utmost successes. As a team, we have had good turnouts to trainings each week and some great wins with an overall positive team culture and spirit that we express on and off the court. In the current training sessions, the incorporation of match play allows each player to develop key skills which we can implement in our competitive games. It also allows the team to better know who they prefer to play with in doubles matches and the type of matches. This has proven to be beneficial and will be maintained in the future.

The role of GKT women’s captain would give me a platform to put forward some ideas which I think will serve as a valuable contribution to our team, these I will briefly discuss.  Every member of the team is an exceptional tennis player and with that I want to extrapolate our knowledge of competitive tennis by placing more focus on tactical play especially in the game of doubles. Secondly, introducing the idea of a specific objective in each training session, aspects where the team feel like there is area for improvement. For example, focusing on net play one session and cross court play the next. I also think that what can be additionally gained from our training sessions is having set doubles partners train more together and putting them forward in matches as much as possible. This will elicit more confidence in competitive play and allow team members to better know their doubles partner in turn enhancing the performance. Additionally, as a women’s captain, I want to make sure girls in the team feel comfortable, involved and as open as they can be and perhaps organise some specific ladies training sessions if popular. Currently, there is a GKT LUSL team and a GKT men’s BUCS team however no GKT women’s BUCS team so perhaps looking to develop this if interest is to be shown. Furthermore, off the court, I think more GKT exclusive social events should be put in place in addition to general socials. This will give an opportunity for team members to interact in a different environment and to get to know each other better. This will greatly benefit the team dynamic which will be reflected on the tennis court.

There has never been a women’s GKT captain role before, I’m delighted that the current committee are incorporating it, and I’d love to work hard to make it a role worth having.