Tennis player, Jack Findel-Hawkins

Jack Findel-Hawkins hopes to become a professional international tennis player with a dream to become the next British Wimbledon Tennis Champion. He has played tennis since the age of six and has defied the odds by reaching number one in the UK on a shoestring budget. He is also one of the rare junior tennis players who is in full-time education at school and doesn’t attend a full-time tennis academy with private tutors for education.

Jack is currently ranked number one in the UK boys 16-and-under category and number nine in the UK boys 18-and-under category, and has obtained a Junior World Ranking. Jack has a huge passion and love for the sport of tennis. Jack said “I love all aspects which come with tennis - the physical, the mental and joy of playing . . .”

Although Jack receives equipment including rackets, string and holdalls (via a sponsorship with Dunlop Sports) and some coaching costs (from the Lawn Tennis Association’s National Futures Programme), he relies heavily on his family for all other costs. The family keeps costs down whenever possible – according to his family “last year Jack and his father stayed in a tent on a farm in Nottingham to save money - it rained every day for eight continuous days and nights with a gentle sprinkling of sleet and snow to add variety! Out of the 500 plus competitors in this national tournament they were the only ones in a tent. However after Jack had won the tournament it all seemed worthwhile!”  To help relieve some of the cost pressures in February 2011 the JWCT contributed £750 to fund Jack’s international travel to compete with the world’s best.

Jack has also represented Great Britain in the Dunningham International Match and regularly attends National Training Camps at the Lawn Tennis Association’s headquarters in Roehampton, London. Jack has also represented the senior Devon County Team and is a member of the winning men’s Cranford Club tennis team who have won Devon’s first division for the last three years in a row.

Jack’s coach Will McNully said “no one can predict how far Jack will go. What I can say is that Jack is a most exciting prospect. He has huge amounts of ability. He has many of the attributes required to make it at the highest level. He is extremely determined. He is a great competitor who fights for every single point of every game of every match. Most importantly he has a team (family and coaching) who believe in his potential and that he can realise it, and therefore fully support him in his quest.”

Jack attends Exmouth Community College, trains at Exeter University after school each day, and plays in tournaments most weekends and during the holidays.

February 2011

“Thank you for your contribution to my tennis. This has already helped towards the cost of attending the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton where this weekend I played my 16-and-under Winter Nationals and became the National Champion of Great Britain. I cannot thank you enough.”