NEWQUAY'S Heron Tennis Centre always proudly boasts of its local successes and facilities but now it can also claim to be truly international in its tennis influence.

Tennis professional Kelly Anderson, aged 24, has chosen Heron Tennis's Ace Academy to be her training base as she competes in European competitions and her presence is certainly inspiring some of the other promising players at the club at Trenance Park.

Kelly, from Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, has been in England since September and has had some sparkling tennis experiences since she started playing in her homeland at the age of just five.

Professional

She was coached by Liz Ford, one of the pupils of experienced national coach Gordon Bird, and it was he who suggested that Heron would be an ideal base for her in England.

Having enjoyed a magnificent junior tennis career and becoming the African champion at under 14 and under 16 levels, Kelly qualified to play at junior Wimbledon in 2002 and the junior Australian Open in the same year.

While not achieving a high round position at either competition, the experiences were invaluable to her overall understanding of how the game operates at the top level and convinced her to pursue the possibility of a professional career in the sport.

At the age of 17, Kelly won a scholarship to the USA where she studied and played tennis at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta for four years during which time she travelled to the French Open and Wimbledon as an assistant to one of the coaches before turning pro in 2007.

While still looking to break into the big time as a professional, Kelly has been successful at gaining ranking positions at international prize tournaments and these have resulted in her holding a doubles position as high as 135 in the world.

This year she has travelled to locations such as Johannesburg, Italy and Turkey and recently reached the semi-finals of doubles competitions in Sunderland and Jersey plus just losing out in the Barnstaple $50,000 doubles final during early October by 5-7, 4-6.

But it's certainly not a career for anyone looking for the glamorous lifestyle – not while you are trying to make it up the ladder to greater success.

As Kelly says: "There is a lot of living out of a suitcase, sleeping on floors and long trips."

But she is delighted with the base she has found at Newquay's Heron Centre where she can train and develop with coaches and other talented players.

"It is great to come to Newquay to have this as the base I come back to and working with Ace Academy coach Steve Askey and others is excellent," she said.

One of her training partners at Heron is local player 17-year-old Claire Tresidder who attends Truro School and who has been a regular at the Ace Academy since 2008. She began playing at Budock when just eight years old and soon started making an impression with her style, strength and commitment.

She is certain about the benefits which being in a regime like the Ace Academy brings: "I know how my week is going to be structured and this helps with the development and mental side of the game too," Claire said.

Inspiring

"Having Kelly here is really inspiring and working with her I have realised that I am probably better than I realised – she is really helpful and we get on well."

So have Kelly's experiences made Claire determined to follow the same challenging path as a tennis professional?

"I'm not certain yet," she said. "I have more work to do at college and will then be going across to the USA for a 'crammer' where I will play some tennis, so hope this will also concentrate my mind."

Whether she goes for it or not, Claire has already made a positive impression with those closer to home.

"We are all very proud of Claire's achievement in tennis, not least because she manages to excel in this demanding sport, as well as committing to other school sports and her studies," said her head teacher at Truro School, Paul Smith.

"Claire is a senior prefect at the school, a privileged position earned by only 16 of her year," he continued.

"This reflects her reliability and maturity which, when allied to her natural athleticism and competitive edge, makes a most impressive young lady who will go far."

Steve Askey is also in no doubt that Claire's attitude and commitment can take her still further in the sport.

"We are very fortunate to have talent like Kelly and Claire to work with here," he said.

"Kelly's experiences are great to bring into an environment like this and with someone of Claire's ability and attitude the combination is something which provides a real buzz around the place."