27th February, 1962 – 4th February, 2025
It was with sadness and shock that I learned early in February that Adrian Waite passed away at the age of 62. Fortunately, he was surrounded by many of those he loved. My thoughts and those of all at Yorkshire Tennis are with Adrian’s family, especially his wife Clare and three sons plus his many friends, at this time of loss.
An early passion for tennis
Adrian played tennis at Woodhouse Grove school in Bradford but then was lost to the sport for some 20 years as he turned to golf. When his son developed an interest in tennis at the age of nine, Adrian started to play again with him in the park and on holiday, including a coaching holiday in Cornwall and eventually they joined Wakefield Tennis Club. After one month as a member, Adrian wrote a letter to the Club Chairman about an issue and was immediately elected to the tennis committee. That letter was the start of Adrian’s broader involvement in tennis development in Britain. He became a member of three tennis clubs; Barnsley, Wakefield and Slazenger and played men’s league tennis in both the Leeds and Sheffield & District Leagues. He also qualified as LTA Level 1 and Professional Tennis Registry coach. In club tournaments he won the Men’s Open Singles, Men’s Handicap Singles and Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Men’s Doubles events at Wakefield and the Over 45s Men’s Doubles and Over 60s Veterans Men’s Doubles at Barnsley. Adrian’s passion for tennis was matched possibly only by that for golf.
A keen leader of tennis in both the Wakefield area and at County level
After much success helping to run Wakefield Tennis Club, in 2013 Adrian became a member of the Yorkshire Lawn Tennis Association (YLTA) County Management Committee, keen to influence the wider tennis picture. He subsequently was appointed as a founder Director of the new Yorkshire Tennis Limited legal entity which was formed in 2022 to succeed the YLTA. His was an important voice in shaping the transition and creating the building blocks for the future growth of tennis in Yorkshire. Additionally, in his 12 years as part of Yorkshire Tennis Adrian has been instrumental in recruiting and
supporting Yorkshire Tennis’ Partner organisations who provide vital funding and investment into county tennis. He was also key in organising the annual LTA Awards for Yorkshire with several winners emerging from our county.
Nine years as an LTA Councillor representing Yorkshire
From 2015-2024 Adrian was Yorkshire’s LTA Councillor. In 2017, he joined the Tennis Development Committee, and in the ensuing years took on lead roles for LTA Registration, Membership and Communications. He also served as a valued workstream member for Governance, Funding and Inclusion, was many times a ‘buddy’ and represented the LTA at County Cup events. Additionally he had the lead for the work stream responsible for communications flow between the regions, counties and the LTA.
Recently retired
Until his retirement last year, Adrian’s full-time role was as Chief Executive of Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre. This followed a career in franchising which started at age 25 when he established a business transfer agency selling post offices, hotels and newsagents (amongst others). This led to him establishing his own franchise consultancy which was a somewhat different specialism from his University degree in Geology.
An excellent ambassador for tennis
As you can see, Adrian lived a very full and active life, contributing so much to so many, especially to tennis at both county and national level. Although I had only brief engagements with Adrian at Awards ceremonies and General Meetings during YLTA days, my own experience of Adrian was in collectively facing the challenges of establishing a new organisation, with a largely new senior team at Yorkshire Tennis. I found Adrian to be kind, empathetic, methodical and wise and appreciated that he was not afraid to present a counter view. He was a thoroughly nice man and worked hard to further the game of
tennis at all levels. He was also a very good ambassador for Yorkshire Tennis on the national stage and could usually be found supporting tennis every day down at the Wimbledon fortnight.
With me being a ‘newbie’ to the world of LTA and County Tennis administration, Adrian’s generous counsel and support for the collective decision making process was a significant help to me personally and the senior team was the better for his experienced contributions. There will be a gap in future debates which others will have to work hard to fill.
He will be vey sadly missed by not only myself but all at Yorkshire Tennis and in the broader world of tennis and the other sports he was involved with. May he rest in peace having lived a fulfilling life.
Steve Jones
Chair, Yorkshire Tennis Limited
