Margot Awarded Female Pro of the Month by Tennis Media Group

Read the Full Article Here

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

Margot Carter in action at the 2019 Riviera Country Club GlamSlam

TCB: What is your racquet of choice?
MC: Head Speed Pro

TCB: Thank you, Margot Carter.

Congratulations to Margot Carter for being our
November 2019 Female Pro of the Month.

Return from The West!

Margot is back!

The Tennis Congress and GlamSlam Tennis were a huge success.

That crazy point in the GlamSlam exhibition match! Read below for more!

Tennis Congress, 5 days in the Sonoran Desert. 200 + players and 80+ coaches. An incredible event designed to give the amateur athlete the professional training experience. I was honored to have been invited to this incredibly exclusive event with the best coaches flying in from all across the world.

Tennis Congress in the Sonoran Desert

The arid air and altitude were no joke, and my throat is still recovering from coaching in this atmosphere, but the people and friendships forged over this event will surely stick for life. This bi annual event is well worth planning ahead for, and if you have any questions please let me know or check out www.tenniscongress.com 

Vika Azarenka visits the GlamSlam in LA

Then, after one afternoon of laziness by the pool at the El Conquistador resort I hopped on a plane to L.A. to coach in the annual SoCal GlamSlam event. This all female event is specifically designed for the ladies who play league Tennis who want to learn how to incorporate all their Tennis and doubles skills into an exceptional team play environment. Two full days and two half days of Tennis coaching, mental training, dinners, exhibition matches all delivered by some of the best female pros you can find at the exclusive and absolutely stunning Riviera Country Club in L.A. The coaches were top ex college coaches, top ex world ranked players (Melissa Gurney "17") and top tennis directors, again, I was honored to be part of such a knowledgeable group. It has been a long time since I have found myself on a court playing a match, and although our current rankings are non existent, if we had all gone by our previous world highs, I was the lowest on that list of 4, but Melissa and I beat our opponents in a match tie break, and the little gif above should give you a small inkling of what the match was like! Watch the video below for the whole point!

Uploaded by Spherical Yellow on 2019-10-27.

Now that you have experienced some of Margot’s magic first hand, buy a lesson pack now and learn to play Tennis with this high energy charismatic lover of the game!

USPTA Level III Education Award

It is always nice to be recognized for your hard work!

Thanks USPTA for the recognition and the level III certificate for earning education credits in 2018.

Stop Press! New Soup Recipe that ROCKED MY WORLD!

Sweet Potato, Carrot, Coconut Velouté

1 Sweet Potato
4 Carrots
1 Onion
2 cups Coconut Milk
3 cups Vegetable Bouillon
1 Tsp Turmeric
1 Tsp Paprika
1 TBs Olive Oil

Peel and chop all the veggies.
Heat the Olive Oil in the casserole
Cook the onion until it’s lightly browned
Add the other veggies and the milk and the bouillon.
Add the spices and some salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.
Blend with a hand blender.
Serving idea, add a poached egg right before serving!

I made this last night and devoured the lot! Post your pics on instagram and tag us so we can see!

Have you heard about the Spring Cleanse?

ABOUT THE EATING!

After years of players asking for nutrition advice we finally decided to make it official and write it all down! What better way to detox after a long winter! Margot's recipes come from a lifetime of eating her Mothers French Cooking while competing in Tennis Tournaments.

Balanced nutrition of fresh food ✔

Easy to prepare recipes and snacks ✔

Lots of Instagram Food posts ✔

We also have a 24 hour Smoothie cleanse, which should be plugged into this plan twice, but on a day that you know you won’t be too active, and will be near a toilet! These cleanses really do flush out your system and you will be dashing off to pee a lot!

A few tips to get you started:

Ahead of any kind of food plan, whatever your goals, it’s a good idea to get rid of anything from your kitchen that might tempt you off track. Don’t leave those beers in the fridge thinking you will be able to ignore them, don’t leave that bag of chips in the pantry, remove any cakes or cookies from your house! Trust me when I say it’s so much easier if you replace those with your healthy allowed snacks, even a high calorie diet needs to have good calories in it, and large quantities of refined sugars are not the answer. A favourite thing to snack on for this type of cleanse is carrots or celery, but if your goal is more calories, check out the Protein Balls or RXBars, or just eat more steak! An old French saying is that a good laugh is as good for your abs as eating a steak. Well if we turn that around, a steak is as good as a really fun ab workout, and now there is science backing this up! Just goes to show the French really know their stuff when it comes to food.

Be inspired by your cooking space, and make preparing a meal fun! Have music, and maybe some fresh herbs growing to inspire you to use your own herbs to cook with, if you make the meal preparation a lot of fun, you will feel so much more inspired to cook well and to eat well, and you may even find yourself less hungry after all that cooking, I do anyway!

This one is very important:

SLOW DOWN!

Research shows that taking time to savor both the meal preparation and then the meal itself actually results in less food being eaten, and longer, more effective satiety, which actually in turn leads to better nutrient absorption. So switch off the TV, put down your phone, sit down with your friends and family and enjoy the meal.

Culinary Notes:

Don’t underestimate the required quality of your ingredients, when buying salt, get sea salt. When looking for mustard find Dijon Mustard that has no weird additives. Ready made meals or pastries or mixes are all full of additives and fillers that are not at all necessary, and while each one may be shown to be ok for human consumption, there are very few studies that demonstrate what happens to our bodies when we ingest these things as a cocktail. Problems with health or reactions to foods often come out a generation later, so why not preempt this potential problem for ourselves and future generations by making the wise choice of eating real and quality food. Invest in yourself and your future by choosing things that have had the most natural way of developing. Grass fed Beef and free range grain fed chickens/eggs developed more slowly and without growth hormones, they probably also had a far higher quality of life.

Where possible you can buy these things from local markets, but even in supermarkets the good options are usually there. When reading the food labels look for things you can’t pronounce, ask yourself why they are there, and then look for an option that doesn’t have them!

I am just going to include this one very simple recipe for right now, because it is essential, and for me a daily requirement in my homemade salads.

How to make a proper French Vinaigrette for your salads. In your salad bowl, mix the following with a whisk or fork:

▪ A pinch of sea salt

▪ 1⁄2 a tablespoon of Dijon Mustard ▪ 1 Tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar

Once these have a smooth consistency, add:

▪ A tablespoon of Virgin Olive Oil

▪ Freshly ground Pepper to taste

Mix well!

Ok friends, look for more posts with fav recipes over the next few weeks, and if you’re inspired, consider joining the Spring Cleanse coming May 1st 2019!

Also check out our page on nutritional nuggets right here www.sphericalyellow.com/nutrition

WTCA Summit Naples, FL. Dec 2018.

What a stunning day! The temps in Naples rose to a beautiful 80°F and the crowds came out from the ITA conference to see the line up that the WTCA had put together. 

We kicked off the morning with Emilio Sanchez on the court, showing us some different cross court drills and working on opening up the court, with use of different targets and drills. It’s always refreshing to see similar drills (thanks for the reassurance that us coaches are on the right track!) coupled with new ways of viewing them. His use of targets against the fence or over the net to assist with angles and directions were very useful. 

We then rolled into the high energy session with Ian Barstow, an excellent hour on movement, because, of course « Tennis is a Movement Sport » stating the often over looked obvious and showing us on court workouts that mimic real situations. From my own personal experiences I can say this was always my favorite form of fitness and strength training.

This was followed up with a Groundstrokes Unlimited session by the powerful duo of Sarah Stone and Ann Grossman Wunderlich. A series of drills aimed at speeding up the forehand swing and getting the mindset into moving forwards built on what Emilio had been showing us earlier.

After a short break Eva Borras Borreguero jumped into communication with female athletes reiterating what was becoming the theme of the day, with regards to positivity and solution focused sessions. This was followed with a panel answering questions, Ann Grossman Wunderlich, Trish Faulkner and myself. Thanks so Sarah Stone for asking thought provoking questions that put me nicely on the spot! It was a balanced panel with us all having different perspectives to offer. 

We concluded the day with a strength training review from Dean Hollingworth, who as always brought energy and insight to his presentation. 

A lovely high energy day with the WTCA crew, a big thank you to everyone that helped make the event a success. 

FHSTA Conference, Daytona.

It was an absolute honor to be asked to speak at the FHSTA 2018 Tennis Workshop. Thanks so much to Mike Baugh for the invitation. I very much enjoyed the research that I did to provide supporting evidence to my presentation “P.A.Q. The Communication Code”. It reminded me a lot of being back in Grad School spending hours on Pub Med finding studies that would help me with my thesis. I delved into this topic of Communication as for me it is essential that our subject matter is delivered in a way that will maximize learning and understanding of the topic. So often teaching can be tough, not because we don’t know the content, and not because our players are not willing to learn, but due to little nuances that can affect how well the information is received. I have broken down my main points into this code which can actually be applied to any form of teaching, no matter the teacher, or the student.

This simple code was developed by Margot Carter after many years on the Tennis court followed by a research project on how methods of communication affect learning. For more information or to book Margot to speak at your conference please contact info@sphericalyellow.com #tennis #learningstyles #coaching #teaching #communication #sytennis #margotcarter #sphericalyellow

Have you got a case of end of summer blues?

We do! But we found the solution! Our Annual Spring Fling event is only 5 months away! So you have no excuse to say we didn’t warn you about this one.

This year its going to be a bit bigger and a bit better, as since we are hosting a Coaches Networking Event the day after, we will be bringing to you wide variety of different coaches for the event!

Croissants… Espressos…. Bubbly… and LOTS OF TENNIS!

Book now to get the extra special pricing!

How To 'Tennis': Beat The Heat!

 

Preparing for any kind of physical activity requires good nutrition and hydration at the best of times, but when the heat turns up it's even more important to fuel your body correctly. The last thing you want is to experience heat related problems, it could be as mild as nausea, and headaches or as bad as vomiting and cramps. Extreme dehydration can even land you in the hospital on a drip while you recover! 

Do's and Don'ts of your Tennis Practice day!

DO: Have a well balanced meal prior to your Tennis. Waffles or cereal or pop tarts are NOT a good breakfast! If you don't have time for a proper meal, make a smoothie with BANANAS! They are full of goodies to help fuel your body and prevent cramps, throw some protein in your shake, in the powder form, or a little bit of Kale, that stuff is magical and will help speed up your recovery post Tennis too. Find More recipes here.

DO: Drink lots of water from the moment you wake up, and keep sipping' through the day. The moment you notice you are thirsty you are already dehydrated, the key is to prevent thirst from kicking and to remain as hydrated as possible. Dehydration headaches are only one of the horrible symptoms of not drinking enough WATER!

DO: Play with a hat or visor, preferably light in colour and lightweight. We LOVE this one from Head.

DON'T: Consume sports recovery drinks in place of water. These products are for the most part either full of Sugar, or Chemical Sugar replacements. They have their place on the Tennis court, but for every sip of one of these drinks take two sips of water, and keep an eye on the labels to avoid high sugar or (in the diet ones) strange chemicals replacing the sugar. If you really want to drink these I highly recommend Kill Cliff, it's full of Vitamins, Ginger, Green Tea, Enzymes, and general goodies to help you through the day, and no strange sweeteners or sugars! 

DON"T: Sit inside in the air conditioning all day. Get outside in the shade at least 30 minutes before you start playing and let your body get accustomed to the heat slowly.