Meet the Team
James White
Director of Tennis, West Hants
James White
James is a level 4 Senior Performance Coach and fully licensed LTA Coach with 15+ years of coaching experience. James previously worked at the West Hants Club from 2006 to 2018. He then joined the LTA working as their 10U performance co-ordinator for the South West region before rejoining the performance coaching team at West Hants in 2020. James studied at Bournemouth University and has a Bsc (hons) degree in Sports development & coaching sciences. It was during his studies that James had a placement year working at West Hants after which he became a full time member of the coaching team. James played tennis for the University tennis first team and played county tennis for Lincolnshire for many years.
Richard Irwin
Head RPDC Coach, West Hants
Richard Irwin
Is an LTA qualified Senior Performance Coach and has been working at The West Hants Club as part of the High Performance Centre since 2008. His role at the Club is centred on helping performance players aged 12-18 within squads and individuals, whilst helping to co-ordinate the AASE Programme. He also overlooks the performance tennis programme at Bournemouth University.
Before coaching at West Hants, Richard was a professional tennis player spending 6 years on the circuit. He reached world ranking highs of 98 as an ITF Junior, 705-ATP Singles Ranking, 430-ATP Doubles Ranking, and got to number 12 in the GB Men’s rankings. He spent most of his full time career based in London with the LTA and had the opportunity to travel the world playing Junior Grand Slams (Australia, Wimbledon), Futures, Challengers and a Grandslam Qualifying event at Wimbledon. With all these achievements, his claim to fame is that he still holds a 1-0 head to head record against Andy Murray!
James Pankhurst
Tennis Academy Head Coach, West Hants
James Pankhurst
James joined us from Bath Uni where he has worked for the last 4 years. Some of you may already know James as he has previously worked at West Hants.
He spent 18 years with us building the clubs performance programme before moving to the performance programme at Bath in 2019 as U18 performance manager. In his time at West Hants previously James coached multiple junior national champions.
He has been coaching in performance for over 20 years now and rejoins the team at WH with the same enthusiasm for coaching he has always had. James is a level 5 master performance coach, qualified tutor and has a degree from Loughborough University.
Jazzamay Drew
RPDC Assistant coach / Academy coach, West Hants
Jazzamay Drew
Jazzamay joined us from Culford school RPDC where she has been working for the last 2 years.
As a player Jazzamay achieved a world ranking of 824. Jazzamay is a level 4 qualified senior performance coach.
She has coached players who have gone on to scholarships at American colleges and multiple national level players across all junior age groups.
Jazzamay has led and captained several GB age group teams on official LTA trips
Josh Cull
Strength and Conditioning Manager, West Hants
Josh Cull
Josh is a level 4 Strength & Conditioning coach, a Personal Training Tutor and has over 5 years experience working in the field of Strength and Conditioning.
He previously lead the S&C at Bournemouth Rugby club in addition to working at a local specialist Strength & Conditioning gym.
He has a degree in Sport Science, and is currently studying for his Masters in Strength & Conditioning.
Ollie Griggs
Strength & Conditioning Coach, West Hants
Ollie Griggs
Ollie has been with us at West Hants since August 2018 firstly starting as a Personal Trainer creating a good reputation plus client base.
Ollie has a warm welcoming personaility and is ready for any challenge that is put in front of him and moved onto becoming a Strength & Conditioning coach for the Tennis academy furthering his career whilst continuing his PT. Ollie has a great passion for training sport athletes and continues to better himself each day.
Outside work Ollie plays semi pro football for Winchester City F.C which takes up a lot of his time and he continues to keep progressing to hopefully play to highest standard he can reach.
Sarah-Jane Wright
Welfare Officer & Administrator, West Hants
Sarah-Jane Wright
Sarah-Jane has worked at the West Hants Club since 1999. Her current roles are Welfare Officer, ensuring that all children, young people and adults at risk are safe when at our Club; and Tennis Administrator, dealing with all administration connected with Invitational Squads, Talbot Heath, Bournemouth Collegiate and Club Programme players.
Sarah-Jane has a Bilingual Secretarial Diploma and spent 4 years working in Paris in the following companies: GEC France, Clifford Chance (International Lawyers), Knoll International. She is also a BACP Accredited Counsellor, working with U18’s and Adults in her Private Counselling Practice.
Sarah Camp
Talbot Heath Tennis Academy Lead, Talbot Heath
Sarah Camp
Sarah has worked at Talbot Heath School for over 20 years, initially as Head of PE before taking over Tennis Academy Lead in 2020. She has been involved in tennis at the school since 2004, accompanying teams to Aberdare and U13 and U15 Nationals throughout this time. As a keen tennis player herself Sarah supports the girls on and off court, mentoring them as they navigate their tennis journey alongside their academic studies. She is the admin behind the Academy, liaising with West Hants, LTA, parents and academic staff.
Ian Cradick
Assistant Head Academic Management
Ian Cradick
Ian has worked for Talbot Heath School since 2000. He has held his present position of Assistant Head since 2016. A part of his role is to produce the whole school timetable; a complex process involving careful consideration of the requirements of the senior school faculties, the junior school and those of the Tennis Academy. Ian has a keen interest in sport including tennis and consequently enjoys his connections with the staff at West Hants.
Kat Peacock
Head of Boarding, Talbot Heath
Kat Peacock
Since taking up the role of Housemistress in 2021, Kat acts in loco parentis for students who board at Talbot Heath and supports our students who play tennis. Boarding is a wonderful experience for students to gain life skills and the independence they learn helps them with their intensive tennis schedules. The boarding team is here to help students with transport arrangements for sessions, balancing busy academic schedules alongside tennis training, and being a friendly face when they come back to their ‘home from home.’ Students being safe, happy and healthy is a top priority of the boarding team and Kat’s job is to ensure boarders look after their mental wellbeing and have downtime with friends through activities like yoga, shopping, baking and cinema nights.