ESG History

The England Sports Group was founded by Clinton Lamprecht. The company has been coaching children tennis since 1991 when the first club was opened in Hampton, Middlesex. This club had a strong performance programme with the 2008 Junior Wimbledon Champion Laura Robson and British 2005 National Boys U/15 Champion Harry Skinner both starting their tennis careers at the club.

This first club was called The Tennis Academy, but in 2001 the company became Tennis England with new clubs opening in Esher, Teddington, Weybridge, Witley and Twickenham. The company continued to focus on tennis until 2003 when it became a “total sports” company.

Today the England Sports group provides sports coaching for children in 8 clubs and at more than 100 schools. In excess of 2000 children are coached each week in sports such as tennis, football, hockey, basketball, gymnastics, netball, badminton, archery, rugby, cricket and athletics.

Our Philosophy

The England Sports Group exists to make a contribution towards British sports and we do this by positively building each child’s self-esteem.

We have created a visionary culture, determined to develop each and every child to his or her full potential on and off the sports field. Yes, we coach children sports, but we are more interested in helping our students grow not only as sports men and women but also as human beings. We are committed to the individual development of each child. We don’t just produce players, we build people.

Within each child we aim to develop:

• A love of learning

• A strong set of values rooted in a traditional moral code

• A desire to succeed

• A strong sense of a Can Do Attitude

• A willingness and preparedness to accept responsibility

• An appreciation of the needs of others coupled with a desire to help and care

• A high level of self-respect, self-confidence and self-esteem

• The knowledge and skills required for effective life-long learning

We shall achieve these aims:

• By continually improving our standards of coaching, learning and citizenship

• By being unconditionally positive in our communication style

• By making learning stimulating, challenging, exciting and enjoyable

• Using coaching and learning strategies for a variety of learning styles

• Teaching children how to learn effectively

• Creating opportunities for children to apply their learning

• Encouraging parents to support their children’s learning

• Presenting achievable but challenging opportunities for success

• Rewarding positive attitudes, behaviour and success

• Constructively correcting negative attitudes and behaviour

• Encouraging children to learn from their inevitable mistakes