I have to laugh because they see the Minister for Education but they don't realise they are up against someone who played Fed Cup and Wimbledon many years ago. In fact I played tennis all over the world and loved each and every moment. I was very fortunate because I didn't start early. My family were living in Castlebar when I was 13 and there was a court nearby. Only then did I pick up a racket.

Things spiralled and within three years I found myself at the Wimbledon juniors of 1980. I couldn't believe it but in truth it was daunting. The juniors are played the same time as the seniors and this time each year I think back and a few of things that stand out. Firstly there were the towels. You might laugh but seriously, the tournament is still famous for its towels and they've become collectors' items for players. The second was the Wimbledon Ball, or lack of it, if I'm truthful. They gave me two tickets but I never went. I still can't believe that but I was too shy and being the only Irish person there I had no one to bring so I stayed away from it.

And then there was the first round. Of all the people I had to draw it turned out to be the eventual winner. I've a bad memory but I'll never forget the name of Debbie Freeman.

She was a gifted player and being an Australian gave her an advantage as they were coming off six months of playing on grass. But she was superb anyway and I think the score was something like 6-0 6-2. It was a hammering.

But I went on playing tennis and made some great friends.

The year of my Leaving Cert I ended up playing for Ireland in Berlin and there was a woman called Bernie Davey with me. She kept trying to tell me to study, and that this was important but I used to look around and there would be people like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova just wandering past. I got to meet all of them and would have given anything then to be a pro.

But as it was I still got to play all over the world. We played a tournament in Czechoslovakia at one stage. I spent an extra three weeks there and it was the most amazing place. They had such a great attitude to sport, they encouraged everyone, treated everyone the same no matter the level or ability. They even took care of me and put me up in accommodation and fed me.

This was unheard of because for much of my tennis life I would have been living in tents and trying to get money together for the next journey.

There were lovely people and I befriended quite a few of the girls despite the fact they barely spoke English and I hadn't a word of Czech. But we got on and there were people like Helena Sukova who went on to win 14 Grand Slams and who won a couple of Olympic silver medals in 1988. We travelled around together and I'd be winning the odd match, and she'd be winning all the tournaments. But they were so nice they had an award at one competition for the nicest player and they gave it to me.

The problem was my visa was up and the next thing I was being escorted away. They brought me to a train station and there was one departing for Vienna so I just jumped on and off I went playing tennis in Austria, that was the way it worked back then.

But it all ended when it was supposed to get going. In my early 20s I ended up going to the States on a scholarship but when I went over I just decided to keep travelling and ended up in Central America, in Nicaragua and Guatemala where I was working for charities. It was an exciting time there, especially in Nicaragua where the dictator had been overthrown and there was a democratic government in its early days. I ended up spending four years down there and I could never go back to tennis so instead I came home and got involved in social justice.

I'd always wanted to make a life out of tennis up to that point but realised there were more important things.

Although don't tell my teammates in Warrenpoint and Newry.

Caitriona Ruane is a Sinn Fein member of the Northern Irish Assembly and is Minister for Education