FORMER Warrnambool tennis coach Barry `Butch' Heffernan has been jailed for five-and-a-half years in the United Kingdom for sexually abusing young players.Heffernan, 47, molested the teenage girls "week in, week out,'' using their dreams of stardom as a means of control, St Albans Crown Court heard.Heffernan, who was head coach at Warrnambool indoor tennis centre from 1996 to 2000, set up a tennis school in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, seven years ago.Described as having a "hands-on'' approach to coaching, Heffernan was in fact a "controlling, grooming and predatory'' man who took advantage of girls in his trust.His abuse came to an end when he admitted a series of charges involving two young women earlier this year. Police are now appealing for any other former students who were abused by him to come forward.Jane Bickerstaff, for the prosecution, said Heffernan routinely pressed himself up against one girl on the tennis court telling her: "I can't wait until you're legal.''He later turned his attention to a second girl, touching her improperly and eventually luring her to a flat where he performed a series of sex acts on her, she said. "He was able to get away with what he did because he was coaching them and they wanted to become better tennis players and achieve their dreams and ambitions,'' Ms Bickerstaff told the court. "They put up with the abuse because they thought their dreams would be smashed if they did not." Judge Stephen Warner, in sentencing, told Heffernan he had brought dishonour on the game with his "manipulative" behaviour. "You used your undoubted talents to commit these offences and you brought the game you served well for many years into disrepute,'' he said. Heffernan earlier pleaded guilty to six sexual assaults against one girl and two indecent assaults and two sexual assaults on another. Heffernan, who grew up in Wangaratta, was well known in Warrnambool and in 1996 played continuous tennis for 48 hours to raise money for South Western Community Care. - DAILY TELEGRAPH