Local Legends: Mark Anderson – The Heart of Palmy Tennis

"Local Legends" is a web article series where Tennis NZ celebrates club workers and volunteers who dedicate considerable time and energy to improving their club and the sport. If you want to nominate someone, click here.

Whether it’s keeping his local courts manicured, hosting a club social night, or driving Davis Cup players for the week, Mark’s passion for tennis is unrivaled.

There weren’t many tennis coaches in 1970s Southland. Mark Anderson, originally from that part of the country, ended up playing rugby, like many others of that era. Although tennis was initially the sport that caught his eye, the lack of resources available to him meant his true involvement with tennis would have to wait.

After living in different parts of the country, Mark’s work eventually brought him to Palmerston North. He situated himself and his children at Manawatū Lawn Tennis Club, where Mark quickly found himself more and more involved with different areas of the club.

“It started with just taking my kids down to have a hit, and every now and again they needed more parents to help supervise, which led to being an extra pair of hands at club nights and interclub, which led to my committee involvement, and it all just snowballed quite quickly.”

Mark took naturally to coaching, supporting beginners who would venture down to the club.

“There is a learning curve with tennis. Beginners might not know that yet, and so having a court dedicated to new players is so important at club nights, to guide them through the basics, so they want to come back again.”

Patient, and a natural communicator, Mark’s enthusiasm for his student’s success was his calling card.

“I get so excited when the new players start to get it. Sometimes I think I get more excited than the players themselves! It’s seeing that spark for the sport begin to ignite.”

Eventually Mark formalised his coaching qualification by completing a Coach Assistant Course, through Tennis New Zealand.

“The Coach Assistant Course was great. Definitely offers more structure and training. It helped me realise how much I didn’t know despite playing all these years. It’s good to have a pathway for parents who want to know how to coach their kids better.”

“It was also good for teaching us how to handle different skill levels, including the particularly talented. The main thing I took away there is that progress isn’t linear. Sometimes you need to make it easier if they aren’t quite getting it.”

Outside of coaching, Mark’s passion for the sport landed him on the club committee, where he has overseen a multitude of changes at the club.

“When you’ve been on the committee for a long time like me, you end up seeing a lot. For me it’s knowing when to be a follower and just support other members' ideas and viewpoints, and when to really advocate for something you feel is in the club’s best interests.”

One initiative Mark pushed for early was to get the club involved with Love Tennis, a national open day initiative.

“We were one of the earlier clubs to do Love Tennis, certainly in our region. I felt our club set a great bar for how the day needed to go. To ensure everyone was greeted, the volunteers were looked after, pushing the sign-in competition, getting the kids involved with a bouncy castle and lolly scrambles, giveaways, and of course a good offering on court with rackets in hands.”

The Club Championships are also a time Mark looks forward to, to test his skills against the region’s best.

“I enter club champs every year, just to play against people I don’t have the right to play. While I’ll lose 6-0, 6-0, I make sure we’re both smiling the whole time, even if it’s through me calling them all sorts of names as they beat me! At over 60, it’s about enjoying tennis, not winning. If you win it’s a bonus.”

A special time for the tennis community in Manawatū was hosting two Davis Cup ties held in Palmerston North, first against Luxembourg in 2024, and then against Georgia in 2025. Mark was quick to volunteer his time to help out where necessary, and ended up taking time off work to provide transport for the visiting teams.

“It was a huge source of pride in the Manawatū tennis community to host a tie in both 2024 and 2025. It gets talked about here all the time.”

Mark volunteered to be the driver for the visiting teams for both ties, and made a special connection especially with the visiting Luxembourg team in 2024.

“It was pretty special, driving the players around. Whether they won or lost, they were the nicest boys and we became quite friendly. Towards the end I even felt a bit conflicted on who to support. They ended up giving me a signed shirt and blazer. We got them framed and they are now on display at the tennis club.”

The future for Mark is business as usual, supporting as many new players on their tennis journey as possible.

“I don’t have any plans to stop. On Monday I run social tennis for the club, I can usually remember everyone’s level and pair everyone up so they get good games. Once a month on Monday I also take the completely new beginners so they can do game play with each other with some helpful tips from the sideline. On Tuesdays I’m involved in business house, and then I take social tennis for the kids across Friday, Saturday. So I’m definitely at the club more nights than not.”

He has passed on his strong work ethic and volunteer spirit to his children, now all grown up.

“While I also maintain the grounds at Manawatū Lawn, I get my kids to help me. I negotiate their pocket money around helping at the club. It’s instilling a bit of work ethic in them, to show them that a lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes.”