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NOVEMBER
2019
DEDICATED
TO GIVING EVERYONE
THE BEST POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE
ON A TENNIS COURT.
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ABOUT MARGOT
CARTER
Margot, formerly world ranked
451 is the Founder and CEO of Spherical Yellow Inc, a company
dedicated to all aspects of growing Tennis. She is a USPTA Elite
Professional and PTR Professional Coach and Clinician. Margot
has presented at multiple USPTA workshops, the WTCA Conference
in NYC 2018, the WTCA ITA collaboration in Naples, FL 2018 and
most recently the Jacksonville area USPTA RED day.
This journey in Tennis began
when at the age of 18 Margot left her home in Winchester, England,
to attend Tennessee Tech University afterbeing awarded a full
Tennis scholarship. She competed in the top 3 of the university
team, succeeded in making the record books at number 5 on the
all time season victories list, while also completing a Bachelors
of Science in Environmental Biology. |
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It is after this that she then
went on to compete on the Professional Tour, travelling around
the world extensively and achieving a world doubles ranking high
of 451. She returned to TTU as the assistant coach, and this
time qualified with a Master of Science in Environmental Biology.
However, Margot’s passion
for Tennis couldn’t be stopped, and yet again, she found
herself on a tennis court, this time completing various USPTA
and PTR coaching qualifications, to elite professional and professional
standard. This led to coaching opportunities all over the world,
including a 1 month stint in the Caribbean successfully coaching
two local girls to get scholarships to universities in the USA.
There was just a little something missing in life though, and
Margot just had to return to the world circuit for some quality
competition! She re established herself with a world ranking
in 2014, which peaked at 850, when a ruptured Achilles tendon
slowed things up.
It was at this point that Margot
formed Spherical Yellow and launched herself into the world of
Coaching and Tennis business full time. Aside from coaching and
speaking at conferences Margot also trains coaches as a PTR clinician,
and is the voice of the WTCA podcast, “A Tennis Connection”,
also on instagram here. |
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QUESTIONS
FOR MARGOT CARTER
TCB: Margot,
were you born in Winchester, England?
MC: No, I was born in Chichester, West Sussex, England
TCB: When did
you start playing tennis and who got you into the sport?
MC: When I was 5 years old, I played because my parents played
and I wanted to be able to |
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play with them. As I got older I
was convinced that I was going to win Wimbledon, and so to bring
my ego down a notch my Mother entered me into a tournament. Of
course, I was not very successful, but instead of checking my
ego, all it did was fuel my desire for more lessons! |
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TCB: What made you
decide to take up coaching after playing on the tour and after
obtaining a Master of Science in Environmental biology?
MC: Coaching was a stop gap between my degree and my desire to
start "saving the world", however one day I was chatting
with a player at the club who asked me about my interviews and
my life plans, and he pointed out to me that when I was talking
about my potential jobs, I was not very animated, but that when
I started talking about my dreams to one day build a carbon neutral
Tennis center, I was animated and excited about the dream. |
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It was this chat that made me join
both the USPTA and PTR to become as certified as possible so
that I could follow the energy! |
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TCB: What made you
start Spherical yellow in 2014? Is it a for-profit corporation?
MC: I realized shortly after getting all my base level certifications
that my potential for growth was far greater by starting my own
company than simply working for a club. Spherical Yellow itself
is indeed a for profit cooperation, but the 501C3 not for profit
is in the plans for next year! |
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TCB: How many coaches do you employ at your host clubs?
Are they full-time employees?
MC: The business has changed its pathway a lot this year and
we are actually focussing on buying a club in Nashville. The
club in question needs full renovation and therefore at the moment
we don't have any full time employees. Next year should be a
different story though!
TCB: What are
your challenges at Spherical yellow?
MC: I am focussing on growing Spherical Yellow in ways that I
have not done before and so I have a big learning curve that
I am tackling, but I am lucky to have a great team of mentors
behind me who I can turn to for all kinds of advice. |
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TCB: Where do you
want to take Spherical Yellow in the future?
MC: It is my dream to be able to create or retrofit a Tennis
Center to be carbon neutral, and to be a showcase for both tennis
and sustainability. |
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TCB: Have you
played pickleball? Are you planning on teaching it?
MC: Yes, and although I see the potential for Pickleball within
a Tennis club business model, I doubt that I will be the one
coaching it!
TCB: Do you still
play tennis yourself?
MC: I have been known to drop into some Pro Ams and some exhibition
matches, most recently in October during a GlamSlam exhibition
match at The Riviera Club in L.A. |
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Margot Carter in action
at the 2019 Riviera Country Club GlamSlam
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TCB: What is
your racquet of choice?
MC: Head Speed Pro
TCB: Thank you,
Margot Carter. |
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Congratulations
to Margot Carter for being our
November 2019 Female Pro of the Month. |
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