Injuries forced highly rated Tennis Prodigy to coaching.

Jonathan Shacklady, Once described as the “best Lancashire has ever seen”, is now Head Tennis Coach at Markland Hill Tennis Club in Bolton after suffering several injuries.

Shacklady played at County Level since the age of 14 and missed several weeks of school because of training in the hope of making the professional tour which was his and his fathers dream.

Phil Shacklady, the father, was a very supportive figure throughout his early career and Jonathan identified him as his “motivation and strength” and went on to say “it was difficult for me to travel from school to training every day but I was always settled in knowing that my dad would be there to take me which obviously helped me massively”.

Jonathan competed every year in the local Bolton Federation Tennis Cup in where he won the singles and doubles four years in a row. The Shacklady family is very well known in the Bolton area and he described the annual tournament, in where he also played doubles with his Father Phil, to be a “tradition each year because of the friends and family attending”.

Shacklady was ranked second out of 350 in the Lancashire County after winning three County Championships which he went on to say that “when I won the Championships for the first time in 2005, it gave me a massive confidence boost and made me believe in my abilities. I knew I had the talent and skill but previously I had fallen short so that was an important turning point for me”.

As everything was falling into place for Jonathan, it took a drastic turn of events. Aged 15, playing football with his friends, he collided with another player and injured his knee in the process. Remembering the incident, Jonathan says he was in pain but didn’t really think it was that serious as the pain was “bearable”.

Shacklady, who was preparing for the end of season County Championships started upping his training in an effort to be ready and according to Jonathan the knee was “improving” and said he was “okay for 3 months”.

3 months in to the recovery process, Jonathan went back to the physio and they told him he had to stop playing for 6 months which “cut the very important part of his tennis out”.

Tennis is a sport that’s played on different surfaces such as grass, hard court and clay. It requires the player to have speed, power and most importantly coordination. However, it can come with a price, as injuries are a common thing for regular competitive players.

Jonathan now being 24, has coached for 5–6 years is a at Markland Hill Tennis Club in where he coaches players from beginners to National level. However, Shacklady of course do have regrets and says “I really enjoy it but obviously I wish i didn’t have the injury so i could continue to compete at that high level”.