A Venezuelan tennis coach based in Dublin is believed to have broken the Guinness world record for 48 hours of continuous coaching.
Leonardo Parra, who is originally from Venezuela but who moved to Ireland last year after 14 years living in Spain, set the record of 48 hours of non-stop tennis coaching at the Bushy park Tennis and Padel club in Terenure at the weekend.
Mr Parra, who is the head coach at the Dublin tennis club, kicked off the marathon coaching session at 10am on Friday, September 14th, and continued running classes with adults and children until just after 10am on Sunday.
He took five breaks of 20 minutes and two breaks of 10 minutes during the 48 hour period and kept up his energy by snacking on fruit and protein.
“I didn’t eat much, when you put your body through that kind of stress it’s difficult to eat,” Mr Parra told The Irish Times. “I ate lots of fruit, chicken, bars of chocolate, and got plenty of sugar from eating grapes. I also drank lots of water. I didn’t eat any big meals.”
Mr Parra says his wife and friends thought he was crazy when he first revealed his plan to set the tennis coaching record. He had already contacted the Guinness World Records about his idea and discovered that a world record in continuous tennis coaching had never been set.
“They told me I should set the stopwatch for 24 hours, but I proposed to do double that time. 24 hours seemed too easy; I thought a record of 48 hours would be much more difficult for someone else to beat in the future.”
Mr Parra used the event to raise money for Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, and participants were asked to pay at least €10 per hour's coaching. "I wanted the event to be about contributing to a cause and not just a personal achievement. I also wanted to show that determination is at the base of tennis in Spain and that with determination you can achieve whatever you want."
The Venezuelan coach said the hours passed by quite quickly until heavy rain began to fall early on Sunday morning. “The weather got very bad but I had to keep going. It was a hugely physical experience but also spiritual. You spend so many hours on your feet; physically I was destroyed, but I’m very happy with the result.”
Mr Parra said he ate a meal and took a brief rest on Sunday before getting back up for his daughter's birthday party. On Monday at 2pm he was back on the court in Bushy Park for his regular teaching hours.
Later this week he will send the 48 hours of video footage taken in the club to the Guinness World Records office where it will be analysed and verified before it is included in the book of records.
A spokeswoman for the Guinness World Book of Records said she was unable to confirm whether Mr Parra had broken the record for the longest number of hours of uninterrupted tennis coaching without seeing the evidence but that she was looking forward to reviewing Mr Parra’s video footage over the coming weeks.
