Coaching Resources

The problem with the coaching of competitive junior and college players in the U.S. is that programs and practices are too technique-oriented – U.S. tennis coaches and pros have been overly influenced by the USPTA and USPTR – not surprising since the primary mission of these organizations is to service the club player.

The U.S. is a “Johnny-come-lately” to a global, longterm approach to developing tennis talent as evidenced by increasingly poor results on the international level. Despite superior numbers of juniors, the U.S. has gradually been pushed out by countries with a more “scientific” approach to coaching tennis. The U.S. has always led the way in the “science” of tennis – but have done very poorly in transmitting this information to the “coach on the street” – due mostly to the lack of a national coach training and certification system.

The good news is that these scientific tennis programs are now easily accessible to U.S. coaches – if you know where to look. Over the next few months I will elaborate on the Top 10 Tennis coaching resources. Most of the books are available new or used from Amazon.

• German Tennis Federation Coaching books, Course 1 & 2.
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• Everything you ever need to know about producing a world champion.

• Tennis: The Czech Way. Published 10 years earlier, less technical, but with all the key information as the German books:
• ITF Advanced Coaches Tennis Manual. Point form with little explanation, but comprehensive.
• Tennis Canada U14 Club Training Manual and Coach 2 Manual. A comprehensive periodized annual training and competition plan for top juniors – this is equivalent to top NCAA Division III Tennis, 5.0 to 6.0 NTRP. Published in 1994, still way ahead of anyting else out there! There is also an U18 manual as well: http://www.tenniscanada.ca/tennis_canada/Pub/DisplayPage.aspx?PageID=1372&ActiveMenus=yes

• Doubles Tennis Tactics DVD & Book. Louis Cayer has coached at least six of the #1 ranked doubles players in the last 20 years – most of them Canadian. It does not take much to win at doubles with the right approach – and Louis shows how to do it.

• Coaching Tennis: Chuck Kriese’s comprehensive program, with great sections on tactics and match play.

• Science of Coaching Tennis. Great information, unfortunately lacks a comprehensive framework to implement the information.

• ACE Coach: A Tactics First Approach to Coaching Tennis. If you want to develop the smartest tennis players, this site tells, in a very simple way, how to do it. A brilliant website summarizing Canada’s official coaching method since the mid-1980’s (imitated briefly and unsuccessfully by Bolletieri in the 1990’s).
• International Tennis Federation Website E-learning. Great flash presentations, and liks to other solid coaching resources.

• USTA High Performance Website. It is never too late! The U.S. is finally on the right track and this website has links to many good things, in particluar a great Dartfish section on the strokes of all the world’s top players, and links to two great newsletters!

• Lawn Tennis Association. Another Johnny-come-lately to a scientific approach to coaching tennis is the LTA. Pouring millions of pounds sterling from Lottery funds into tennis in the hope of producing a home-grown Wimbledon Champion! Notable hires include Louis Cayer as Performance Programmes Manager, the brains behind the scene in Canadian Tennis since the mid-1980s.

• TennisPlayer.net. Member-only full access – probably the most comprehensive tennis coaching site currently on the web – I have access through my TPA membership. They do have sample articles.