What are the roles and responsibilities associated with a tennis coach? Here’s an in-depth look at all that there’s to know about what a tennis coach could be involved with.
Being a tennis coach is not just about spending hours outdoors and playing the game you love.
It’s about sharing your passion with those you coach, motivating the tennis players irrespective of the level of their play, being able to teach skills, both physically and in theory, and being able to engage, communicate and inspire.
A tennis coach has various roles and responsibilities, and it depends on the age of the player and the level of the player.
If a player is brand new, the coach has a responsibility to not just teach the skills, but to ensure the player grows in confidence and really enjoys the game.
There is a lot of sports psychology involved in coaching, and this changes as the players grow and improves.
Let’s take a look at the most important roles that a tennis coach plays.
If you are teaching beginner tennis players:
1. Nurture a love for the game of tennis
There is a fine line between teaching someone the game of tennis and pushing them away. Some players have a natural skill, others struggle with co-ordination.
As a tennis coach, especially for beginners, your job is to ensure that they develop a passion for tennis.
You want them to pick up a racket and feel a love for the game. Your job is to ensure they love tennis (sometimes you need to be pushy, other times you need to hold back) and that they want to play tennis, watch tennis, follow tennis, and feel passionate about tennis.
2. Teach the tennis basics at a good pace
This follows closely to the above point. You need to recognise that each player is different. Some learn slower than others.
As a beginner tennis coach, you need to keep the interest of the players, recognising they all have different talents.
If you are teaching in a group, as a tennis coach you need to teach the skills while keeping each tennis player motivated.
If a certain player is really good, you can recognise this, but also recognise those that struggle. If you see a player with potential, your job is to grow that potential.
If you see a player who clearly hates the game, and is perhaps being pushed by a parent, you need to recognise this too and nurture correctly. Sports psychology plays a big role in learning a sport!
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3. Be a good role model
When you are coaching new players, well, when you are coaching all players, you need to be a good role model.
This includes discipline with time, discipline with focus and discipline with practice and temperament.
Let’s go over all of these.
Discipline with time
As a coach, you can NEVER be late for a lesson. You must be set up and ready on the court, whenever possible, not rushing around to get balls, the ball machine, cones or whatever equipment you are using.
Your lessons should always start punctually, you should show enthusiasm and respect. If you can show these things to your pupils, they will show it in return, to you and to the game.
Discipline with focus
As a coach, you cannot take your eye off the ball! That is a pun, but you cannot take phone calls during the lesson, chat to other people during the lesson or be distracted. If you give 100% of your focus and commitment, your players are going to do the same.
Discipline with practice
You are going to encourage your tennis players to practice the game as much as possible, whether against the tennis wall at a club, their strokes in the bedroom, or with a friend or parent.
Tell them that you still practice. When they arrive, you could be playing against the tennis wall! You could be doing your shots as air shots. Tell them you are working on your serve and you can really see it improving.
These are all ways to be a good role model; your tennis players will put in effort if they see you putting in effort.
Discipline with temperament
This will change as your players get better and better. For new and intermediate players you are going to teach them patience.
You are going to teach them not to get upset when they make mistakes, or unforced errors, or when they lose a game.
You are going to teach them to be good sports, and you are going to be a good sport too. As your player gets better, or perhaps you only coach professionals, you are going to be using a lot of sports psychology.
A player needs a good temperament and be able to serve a double fault and get frustrated but then get over the frustration immediately and look forward. You have to teach all these things, and it changes at different levels of play.
Be disciplined with your temperament and your players will be disciplined with theirs.
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4. Recognise your player’s talents
Your tennis player might outgrow you!
Perhaps you are a great tennis coach for kids or young teens, or you are a great tennis coach for more social tennis.
If you have a player who is showing talent, and keen to play tournaments or more competitively, recognise that they may need a new tennis coach.
Be open about it, talk to the player and the parents, and if your player is so good and has a possible tennis future ahead of him or her, you may want to recognise how far you can take that player, or if they need somebody else.
If you are teaching intermediate tennis players:
All of the above is just as important when it comes to teaching intermediate players. You are going to teach skill, physical and theory, but you are also going to teach discipline, focus, commitment and temperament. In addition:-
5. Encourage your tennis players to take their game further
Playing in tennis tournaments, or joining a tennis club, is fun!
Encourage your tennis players to take the game a little bit further than having a weekly lesson with you, or playing with their friends.
Encourage them to try out for the school team, to sign up for tennis tournaments or even, or especially, to join a tennis club or a tennis league.
Tennis is fun and social and wonderful, as we all know; playing as part of a team or competitively is really fantastic. Be encouraging, as a tennis coach.
6. Teach your tennis players to dream
Tell your tennis players how you had dreams of playing at Wimbledon!
How you would practice against the tennis wall, pretending you were Boris Becker. Tell them inspiring stories about tennis players who came from nowhere, worked really hard and made it big. Share your tennis dreams with them and teach them that it is good, and important, to dream big!
Rafael Nadal, before he made it BIG, literally popped out of nowhere.
Your players can do it too!
7. Keep everyone updated about the tennis circuit
As a tennis coach, and we are pretty sure you are coaching tennis because you love the game, keep an eye on the world tournaments and the world players.
Share the results with your players.
Say things like – “Wow, did you see how brilliantly Djokovic played last night? Did you notice how he was down and never gave up for a minute.” Watch the games, talk about the games with your players, and even send them the Youtube or video links to the tennis games.
Send them a link like this – Djokovic’s greatest ATP moments.
Keep them inspired.
8. Work on new tennis strokes
Obviously you have been teaching your tennis players how to play the game! Don’t get too complacent, even if their game is excellent.
Everyone needs to have a few tennis shots that are secret, in their back pocket.
Everyone needs a new tennis strategy from time to time. Work on their second serve, or a slice volley, or a drop shot. Teach them new grips, new styles, new techniques.
Keep at it.
Trying a new tennis grip can be so frustrating but ultimately can change a player’s game.
Also Read:
- Best American Tennis Coaches Ever for Professionals
- The Whys & Hows of Tennis Coaching Certifications
9. Never get complacent
You think this would go with the territory but it is important.
Keep your tennis coaching enthusiastic.
Keep it passionate.
You might be coaching your sixth player of the day and feeling the effects of the sun, heat and dare we say it, feeling bored. You somehow have to keep yourself motivated, always, as you do your players.
Perhaps take on a few less players but keep them high quality.
Give yourself breaks between tennis coaching sessions.
Keep yourself motivated, which is how you keep your players motivated.
Sign up with TopCourt.com here for 14 days of free tennis coaching online with them!
10. Set goals for your players
These goals are going to change from time to time, but as your players get better, set them different goals.
Perhaps two tournaments in the upcoming holiday, perhaps a new level league for next year, perhaps entering a mixed doubles tournament for the first time ever.
As your player improves, the goal posts change. Young players may enjoy a day tennis camp over the holidays.
Teenage players may enjoy weekend tennis camps. You need to motivate, set goals, encourage and, keep your players informed as to what their options are.
Serena Williams played tennis with her sister and her dad from a young age. Their goals were clear.
Play tennis professionally. Never give up. Win. Be the first black women to attain huge tennis success.
Serena held on to goals, and changed her goals the more she played. She worked on her goals, with her dad, her coaches and her team. Goals are important, they give purpose, focus and determination. Set them!
Let’s say you are a high performance tennis coach. You are now coaching tennis professionals, or soon-to-be tennis professionals. You have quite a responsibility here, as your player’s careers can depend on how you coach and the role you play.
11. Work on that competitive edge
As a tennis coach, the last thing you want is your tennis player to be throwing their racket in the air at each mistake, or bashing the net when they make an unforced error.
You need to motivate, you need to teach your player to be calm but also – to want to win. To be competitive. As we said above, there is a fine line in temperaments, and sometimes, badly tempered players are brilliant players!
Think of bad boy, John McEnroe, and his short tennis fuse.
Actually, he used it to his advantage, although a lot of the things he got away with would not be acceptable today. You need to teach your players how to make mistakes, stay focused, and never give up. You want to help them to want to win.
12. Employ a team
You might be a brilliant coach for a professional player, but you might not have the right skills to help them with their temperament, or temper! Perhaps a sports psychologist should be part of your team?
Keep the conversation open with your tennis players. If your player is growing in the rankings, making his or her way up the ladder, and has a fabulous tennis future ahead, you may need help.
Don’t feel bad to delegate, work as a team or employ more people. Perhaps you are the tennis coach who can work on the forehand but not on the business or financial side. Get a team together.
13. Do your analysis
As a professional tennis coach, you are going to have to analyse your player’s game. You need to keep a close eye, watch each and every game they play (you are obviously getting paid good money to do this!!) and keep notes on unforced errors and strategy.
Analyse their strengths and weaknesses, analyse their temperament and analyse their game play as a whole.
You will have studied a lot more about tennis coaching, and sports management, to become a tennis coach on a professional level. Analysis and strategy are all part of the coaching game.
14. Temperament, temperament, temperament
This formed part of our early roles and responsibilities as a tennis coach – to work on your player’s temperament.
Guess what? You never have to stop doing this!
Temperament is everything and if your tennis player is going to succeed, he or she needs to have the right temperament – focus, commitment, discipline, respect and the desire to win.
15. Sponsorship
Are you coaching a really good player, one who has made it big or is about to make it big? If you are coaching Federer, Rolex will come to you.
But if you are coaching someone who is about to climb his or her way up the ladder, you might need to go after sponsorship. You might not have time to do this, but a part of your team would. Delegate!
16. Being in the public eye
Your tennis player is going to be interviewed after winning his first Grand Slam, or even, for making it into a Grand Slam event. He or she needs to learn public-speaking skills.
Can you teach this?
You might have discussed this with your player, but – again – think of a team. Although, by this time, and we hope you do have a tennis player who makes it to a Grand Slam event, you will have a sports psychologist on hand.
It’s all part of the package!