| Since I began coaching some 17 years ago now, I have gained a vast amount of experience coaching players at all levels of play. During my coaching career I have taught tennis in Kent, Essex, London and the USA. I have also attended many coaching seminars/workshops in the UK and abroad including ones by the top teaching professionals in the world.
Having kept myself up-to-date with the modern game I have been able to enjoy the privilege of working with performance level juniors and international players, and have kept myself busy on both the former British Tennis Coaches Association, Kent Division and the Kent County Tennis Coaches Association.
During my years in tennis I have held various positions starting off in the early part of my career with "Assistant Pro" to ‘senior professional coach’ ones and these days putting that experience to good use with my own tennis consultancy company alongside my coaching, advising clubs about effective coaching and playing programmes, plus what to look for in coaches.
I also help less experienced coaches to progress in their careers.
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It's time to get serious about tennis in England, what is your club doing about it?! If England is ever to produce players CONSTANTLY like Russia, Spain, the USA etc who are capable of WINNING Grand Slam Tournaments, then there should be FULL programmes available to the tennis playing community, including all levels of mini-tennis, junior squads, junior club nights, junior teams, adult team practice, adult group coaching etc etc. Some clubs even in this "21st century" treat "juniors" as a dirty word!!! Are they not the future club members/champions?!!!
On the coaching front some changes are also afoot:
A new European-wide coaching qualification(CC) in ALL sports is being instituted and over here it will be known as the UKCC. It falls under statutory European law, but naturally there is an implementation period. There are five levels, 1 being for those who normally organise games for the juniors or assist coaches in a limited way (Tennis Assistants {TAs}), levels 3-5 will be the main three levels of coaching qualifications. Level 2 is as yet undecided.
However, until the UKCC is fully instituted, existing qualifications for coaches stand.
Now to dispel a myth:
Many clubs and authorities have been misguided into thinking that if a coach is not LTA qualified or has an LTA license, then he or she is no good as a coach. This is complete rubbish.
FACT:
PTR (Professional Tennis Registry) qualified coaches, USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Association, inlcuding such members as Nick Bollitieri, Stan Smith and Billy Jean King) qualified coaches and RPT (Registro Profesional de Tenis) qualified coaches ALL produce players that win Grand Slam tournaments.
There is also the LEGAL SIDE: NO CLUB OR LOCAL AUTHORITY CAN DISCRIMINATE AGAINST A COACH WITHOUT AN LTA LICENSE as a coach has a right, provided he or she is properly qualified, to coach anywhere in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.
Whoever a club employes, IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE THAT THIS PERSON HAS AN UP-TO-DATE CRIMINAL RECORDS BUREAU ENHANCED DISCLOSURE (CRB ED). Child protection is sadly is very much an issue these days and there have been cases where a certain individual has won the confidence of the club/parent/child and sought to abuse that trust, sometimes after a long period of time. BE VERY STRICT ON THIS ISSUE OF REQUIRING THE CRB ED, OTHERWISE MINORS COULD SUFFER. |
