Jarrad Magee, Santa Sabina’s Head Tennis Coach, is a Level 2 Australia Club Professional Coach with more than 25 years’ experience. He is a registered Hot Shots provider for beginners and has specialised in junior development throughout his career. His practice is to adopt the latest techniques while focusing on strengthening a player’s natural abilities.
Mr Magee is also a Master Racquet Technician and has significant experience managing tennis centres. He teaches players from four years old to adult. As a racquet technician he has strung the racquets of the greats including Nick Kyrgios, Serena Williams, Andy Murray, Sam Stosur and many others.
Currently being organised by Mr Magee are private and group lessons, development squads and holiday camps for the Santa Sabina community.
Jarrad talked to us about what brought him and what he brings to Santa:
What brings you to Santa Sabina?
I’m looking forward to the challenge of increasing the profile of Tennis at Santa Sabina and building strong representative teams that the College can be proud of.
What is your career highlight?
My role as Rafael Nadal’s personal racquet stringer in the 2012 Australian Open Final, stringing racquets during the marathon match. I was sent back to the court multiple times throughout the evening. Novak Djokovic was the eventual winner (5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 7–5) after more than five hours on court.
Why is tennis a great sport for kids to be involved in?
Tennis gives kids the opportunity to play a sport that can be individual or team based. It develops skills in hand-eye coordination, movement and decision making. As Tennis Australia says, Tennis is a ‘Sport You Can Play For Life’.
Who’s your Tennis hero?
Growing up it was Boris Becker and Andre Agassi, however I now enjoy watching exciting players such as Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov.
