How tennis can prepare you for life...

The lessons learned in the past can feed into a person’s personality, the way they approach challenges and even drive their outlook on life.

That’s the theory behind a new book by tennis coach Michael James.

In Everyball, Michael converts his extensive experience in coaching tennis into advice and lessons that can be applied to the game of life, off as well as on the court.

Michael, aged 47, was born in Nairobi, Kenya. From a young age, he has played tennis around the world, progressing to coach the sport in England in 1993.

He is now director of tennis for Halton UK, near Aylesbury, one of the leading tennis clubs in Britain, and travels round Europe working with a number of nationally and internationally ranked junior and senior players.

He is also the founder of a tennis coaching brand, Everyball Tennis, which helps to educate and support future coaches.

His extensive experience as a mentor led Michael to write a book that offers support to people in their day-to-day lives. Each chapter in Everyball offers digestible lessons on coaching and life, drawing on anecdotes from his long career.

Michael said: “My goal in writing this book, first and foremost, was to educate, motivate and inspire, as well as to promote the wonderful sport of tennis.

“Everyball represents more than just tennis and points to something greater, beyond the confines of the lines between which we chase and hit fuzzy yellow balls.”

Everyball is published by Panoma Press, at £10.99.