As the head coach at Bayside Tennis Coaching in Brisbane, Tim Low is passionate about promoting the sport and uniting his local community.
Brisbane, Australia, 19 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Tim Low once dreamt of competing on the world stage, before discovering coaching was his calling.
“Coaching was a bit of a side job to make some money while I was playing,” he explained of how his coaching career initially began.
“I went overseas for a few months and played, then ever since I was 19, I’ve been a full-time coach.
“I lost the passion for playing myself and fell in love with coaching and seeing kids develop and improve, so I changed my focus pretty early.”
Low is now the head coach and owner of Bayside Tennis Coaching, which operates at Redland Bay Tennis Club in Brisbane.
“We’ve got eight courts and probably 700 people a week that come through our venue,” Low said. “It’s pretty busy but it’s an amazing community.
“Our youngest player is four and we’ve got a group of senior players, where one of them have just cracked their 90s. It’s a wide demographic.”
For Low, it is the community aspect of his job that brings the most joy.
“The club has been a part of my life for a long time now and it’s the people that get me out of bed every day,” he said.
“You deal with so many different backgrounds and everyone has a different story to tell. I think that was really highlighted through COVID, when people were reaching out to tell me how much tennis meant to them.”
The pandemic also provided Low with newfound perspective, especially when his business was unable to operate.
“To go from being in such a social job and being around so many people, to having no interactions with people was a bit of a shock,” he said.
“Getting up and not really having a purpose, that was pretty tough for me. I actually went and worked unpaid with a builder at our club just to get out of the house.
“It was tough, but we were pretty lucky up here in Brisbane, we only had about five weeks with nothing.”
Since tennis has returned, interest is at an all-time high.
“After COVID, our numbers nearly doubled in a short window,” Low said.
“I think people were just happy they could get out and be physical with their friends. A negative situation actually became a positive.”
When asked to share his personal highlights from a coaching career spanning almost 20 years, Low admits “there’s been a…
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