He will start on 1 October, but has already set in motion various initiatives to promote development within the club.
‘I have lots of ideas I want to put in place to take the club forward,’ he said.
‘I’ll be starting from scratch with the club programme and want to develop the junior programme and encourage more juniors to play by forging links with local schools.’ He plans to focus on the whole range of junior tennis, from minis right through to setting up a high-performance junior academy.
And the senior players will not be forgotten, because he will be working on improving their programme, too, starting with getting down to work on both competitive and social opportunities within the club.
‘One of my main aims is to create a welcoming and friendly environment for every player so that people will want to play regularly and be proud to be a member, and at the same time improve standards of play,’ he said.
The move has been fully supported by Education, Sport and Culture, and by Channel Islands LTA chief officer Hugh Raymond, who said that he was delighted that the club have appointed Keany.
‘Joe does everything with great enthusiasm, and he has coached a number of the Island’s top county players,’ he said.
‘It’s a big move for him, too, and I’m sure the club will be very glad he’s on board.’ The club decided to appoint a full-time coach after part-time coach Sean Peters left earlier this year.
Born in New York City, Keany is an LTA-licensed coach who holds a level 2 club coach award in performance tennis.
His first post in Jersey, in 1991, was as part-time coach at the 76 Club, the forerunner of Grainville Tennis Club.
In 1995 he moved to the Caesarean Tennis Club, where he worked with former coach Pablo Giacopelli until his move to Les Ormes in 2002.
‘I’m back at the Grainville club, so I’ve gone full circle,’ said Keany.
