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More on KentOnline
All sports have their unsung heroes and Vanessa Webb is without question among them.
Since taking up the game of tennis aged 11 Vanessa has gone from club player to administrator extraordinaire, culminating in a term as president of the Kent Lawn Tennis Association – the first woman president in its 127-year history.
She's met royalty, won numerous awards, taken up refereeing and even found the time do some public relations. She's currently the Deal Indoor Tennis manager.
Her competitive streak, however, was forged off the court.
She explained: "From aged six I was a Ballroom and Latin-American dancer. I did that until I was 20 and that's where I got my competitiveness from.
"I was entering competitions everywhere – even France and Germany. I'm the only female in Kent to win the Ballroom & Latin Dancing United Kingdom award, in 1977.
"I started playing tennis aged 11 at the Charles Dickens School in Broadstairs. I liked it so joined a local club, Broadstairs and St Peter's, when I left school.
"I took tennis more seriously when I got to 20 – by then I had trouble keeping male dancing partners because at that age they were getting so much stick so the tennis came in more and more."
In 1989 Vanessa left Broadstairs and St Peter's and joined Margate Tennis Club and in no time was thrust into the action.
"They asked me to play reserves for the 3rds and, like the dancing, I loved the competitiveness," she recalled.
"The following year I was made captain. We played Kent County League and East Kent League and climbed from Division 10 to Division 4."
Most amateurs can relate to one of the pros in the way they try and play the game, albeit to differing levels of success of course. Fans of Roger Federer's balletic groundstrokes try in vain to copy him, as do admirers of Serena Williams' power and verve. Vanessa was a fan of Chris Evert, and studied the 18-time Grand Slam champion's game methodically.
She said: "I didn't have a coach back then, I taught myself with books and used to read tennis manuals.
"Growing up, Chris Evert was my idol and I bought her creative visualisation techniques videos. I was keen to copy her double-handed backhand down the line, although I've had some coaching to try and iron out the unorthodox shots – which I still have!"
In 1996 Vanessa accepted her first admin role at Margate Tennis Club, a decision which proved the start of her journey all the way to the presidency of the Kent LTA.
She recalled: "I was fixtures secretary and this took me to Bromley, where the Kent LTA is based, and got me noticed. I became the Kent LTA's east Kent representative in 2003 and got more and more enthusiastic.
"Things I never dreamed of doing, I did. It was grassroots stuff to professional tour meetings with the game's governing body, the Lawn Tennis Association. I'd finish work and drive straight to a meeting for 7.30pm."
This commitment did not go unnoticed and in 2007 Vanessa was awarded the Kent LTA volunteer-of-the-year award. Unsurprising to most observers, but not the recipient.
"It was a bit of shock," she said. "I wasn't expecting it and five years later I won it again making me the first person to win it twice.
"In 2008 I was asked to be an adviser/assessor for Clubmark, Sport England's national accreditation scheme for high-quality sports clubs. I was doing site visits and making sure standards are upheld. I loved it."
With so many tennis commitments it says a lot for Vanessa's stamina that she had time for a job as well. But she did, managing to juggle life working at Albion Bookshop – until a new tennis development for Deal was opened by the LTA in 2011. Based at Tides Leisure Centre, the four-court indoor Deal Indoor Tennis Centre cost £1.3million.
Vanessa explained: "With such huge figures involved someone with the right background was needed to run it and the LTA recommended me for the role.
"It's a dream job for me. I live and breathe tennis otherwise I wouldn't do it. My duties include the day-to-day management of the centre but I'm also team manager for adult and junior teams and organise their fixtures.
"I'm responsible for internal and external events and the venue organiser for LTA tournaments and competitions. I also deal with press and publicity, Wimbledon ticket ballots, schools and I'm the league organiser and fixtures secretary for the Deal Indoor Winter League."
The centre attained Clubmark accreditation within six months of opening and won the Kent LTA club/centre-of-the-year award for 2014.
In 2016 Clubmark was replaced by a two-tier 'Tennis Mark and Tennis Mark+' accreditation and under Vanessa's guidance Deal Indoor Tennis Centre was the first and only centre in east Kent to obtain the prestigious Tennis Mark + award and only the third in the south east. The centre retained the award in 2017/18 until the LTA moved to LTA Registration, when new safeguarding laws meant every LTA-registered venue had to meet five minimum standards.
Vanessa was instrumental in making sure Deal Indoor Tennis Centre met the new criteria which exceeded expectations. She even became the centre's welfare officer and passed the LTA's safeguarding courses levels 1 and 2.
When Deal Indoor Tennis Centre opened Vanessa took a level 1 coaching assistants' course and exam so that she could be a part of the centre's coaching team. She mainly delivers the adult recreational sessions and the match practice/club evening.
"My weekly sessions are full with ages ranging from 16-80plus," she said. "However, I decided to go down the British Tennis officials route to enable the centre to host more LTA graded tournaments.
"I passed my basic and full referees course to become a licensed referee and regularly go to the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton for workshops and courses to keep my licence intact and to keep up to date with rule changes."
Vanessa is now a Grade 3 referee – just two off grand slam level 1 standard – and that enables the centre to host county and regional tour events linked to nationals. These tournaments see the best players in their age groups from across the country competing at Deal.
She still sits on the east Kent LTA committee as rep to the Kent LTA and is the East Kent League organiser and tournament organiser and referee for the annual East Kent Championships.
Vanessa also has a seat on the Kent LTA council and is the Kent LTA Mixed League organiser.
"My friends think I'm nuts," she said. "I work Monday-Friday and weekends I'm either refereeing tournaments or captaining my team in a county league match somewhere in Kent or visiting a club in my East Kent rep role. I'm also an avid spectator of the professional game and my annual leave is usually taken up with days out spectating at professional events."
But before then, in 2015, came a proposal from the Kent LTA – would Vanessa become the new deputy president for two years, before taking the presidency – the first woman incumbent – for a further two?
"I just got a phone call, I didn't see it coming, but there was no way I was going to turn it down," she said. "You're only going to do it once. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would become president.
"As president I have been present at various events around the county and beyond from the Fed Cup to schools tennis. I have shaken countless hands and presented trophies to school winners, county championship winners both juniors and adults. I've also presented prizes to Kent LTA award winners, performed opening ceremonies for new club facilities, courts, floodlights and clubhouses. There was also the opportunity to mix with royalty in 2019 when Sophie, Countess of Wessex, opened Marden Sports Club's new tennis courts.
"I never knew I would be walking around as Kent LTA president with the Countess of Wessex. She was so friendly and quick to put everyone at ease."
In April 2019 Vanessa took on public relations responsibility for the Kent LTA. Her role as county press officer puts her on the communications board and she also sits on the awards panel for the Kent Awards. As for her press releases, they make good reading – the state of the county game looks bright.
Vanessa said: "Junior tennis in Kent is amazing. We have Ben Gusic-Wan, from Canterbury, who won the Junior Orange Bowl in Miami last year aged 12. It was the first British win there since a certain Andy Murray in 1999.
"Anton Matusevich and Emma Raducanu at Bromley Tennis Centre have also done well at junior Wimbledon, reaching the quarter-finals, and the junior US Open quarter-finals, while Deal's James Davis is a former Road to Wimbledon winner."
In December Vanessa's 17-year contribution to the county game was recognised by the Kent LTA, when she was awarded honorary county colours, but it was last summer's win for Kent's men in the national championships at Eastbourne that perhaps sums up this multi-tasking, fully-committed tennis enthusiast the best.
"We won the title and there's me dashing off to the boot of my car for the camera," she said. "One minute I'm president, the next I'm the team photographer!"
