Top county tennis player Laura Eales spent four years as a student in California and, not surprisingly, loved every minute of it.

But a little closer to home there’s somewhere else that will always have a special place in her heart although it may lack a lot of the glamour of the sun-kissed West Coast US state.

That place is Worthing in West Sussex and it is special for Eales because it is where Gloucestershire Ladies – or Glos Pups as they have become known – won promotion to Division Four of the LTA Summer County Cup.

And some achievement it was too because they won four of their five matches while Eales and captain Esther Curtis won all 15 of their rubbers.

“It was a great week,” said Eales, who is a coach at East Glos. “We’re all good friends and had a great team spirit. We all play a lot of singles and it was good to play some doubles, it was a fun week.”

Eales is already looking forward to next year’s County Week and added: “I think Division Four is the right level for us. We’ve been in Division Five or Division Six for the past few years so it will be nice to play some new teams.

“I think it’s quite important to win promotion. It’s a positive for tennis in Gloucestershire and I think we’ll do okay next season, we’re quite a young team.”

Eales is only 23 herself and alongside her and Esther Curtis in the team were Eales’ 21-year-old sister Jenny, Eleanor Findlay, Sophie Brazell, Lily Owen and Charlotte Russell while Olivia Rook played for the first three days.

Laura Eales, who lives in Cirencester, took up the sport at Cirencester Tennis Club at the age of five or six before moving to Oxstalls and then David Lloyd Gloucester.

The one-time Stroud High School pupil was obviously very good because she won a tennis scholarship to California State University, Long Beach where she studied English literature.

It was while there that she decided that coaching was her best option if she wanted to make a living out of tennis and it’s a decision she has never regretted.

“I really love it, it’s great fun,” said the LTA qualified Level 3 coach. “The majority of my work is at East Glos but I also do sessions at Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Cheltenham College. I tend to coach all levels.”

So with her ‘official’ hat on, Eales gives the low-down on her Gloucestershire team-mates:

Eleanor Findlay: “She plays at East Glos and is always excited to play County Week. She was our entertainments manager when we were in Worthing.”

Sophie Brazell: “She lives in London but is always keen to make herself available for County Week.”

Jenny Eales: “She’s just graduated from the University of Nottingham where she played first-team tennis. She’s loves the team element of County Week and always wants to play.”

Lily Owen: “I used to play against her a lot when we were juniors – we were the top two juniors in Gloucestershire. She was really excited to play at Worthing.”

Charlotte Russell: “Her dad [Peter Russell] used to coach me. She’s a really good national junior player. She was one of the younger ones and it’s really good to have someone like her in the team.”

Esther Curtis: “She’s been captain for the past 12 or 13 years. She’s played county tennis all her life and is a great coach and a great captain. She’s still easily good enough to hold her place.”

Olivia Rook: “She’s a really good national junior player, I think she’s a year younger than Charlotte [Russell]. She’s doing really well. I played County Week with her last year and hopefully she’ll continue to play in future.”

And what about Laura Eales on Laura Eales?

“I like playing on grass, it’s my favourite surface so I enjoy County Week because it is always played on grass. And we had beautiful weather this year which was nice. I’m a much better doubles player than singles so that’s good as well. I’m a serve and volley player, I like to volley and take people by surprise. Esther is really good at serve and volley and she’s very reliable at the back of the court too. We made a really good team.”