Up and Coming Events

8 - 16th February: ITF Coaching Beginner Players Course (Level 1), Djibouti.

11 al 22 de Febrero: Curso para entrenadores de jugadores avanzados (Nivel 2), Antofagasta, Chile.

18 - 29 February: ITF OS Coaching Advanced Players (Level 2), Pretoria, South Africa.

20 - 21 de Febrero: Jornades del Tennis Català: Centro de Alto Rendimiento de Sant Cugat, Barcelona, España.

4, 5 y 6 de Marzo: Curso de Play and Stay, Curicó Chile

07 al 15 de Marzo: Curso para entrenadores de jugadores iniciantes (Nivel 1), Santiago, Chile.

21 al 30 de Marzo: Play + Stay junto a Nivel 1, Quito, Ecuador.

31 de Marzo al 08 de Abril: Play + Stay junto a Nivel 1, Guayaquil , Ecuador.

3 - 5 Avril: 2008 Le tennis dans la société de demain : La Faculté des Sciences du Sport de Dijon, Ufr Staps - Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France

11 - 13 April: 2008 International Conference on the road to success, University of Väaut;xjöaut;, Sweden.

Abril: Curso para entrenadores de jugadores iniciantes (Nivel 1), Concepción, Chile.

For more information regarding up and coming development events visit. http://www.itftennis.com/coaching/education/courses/Upcomingcoachescourses.asp

News from Australia

The iCoach Editorial Board meets in Australia

The iCoach Editorial Board met in Australia during the final week of the Australian Open. Attendants of the meeting included on behalf of Tennis Australia (TA); Craig Morris, Athlete Development Manager; Travis Atkinson, Manager Coach Development; and Patrick McInerney, Coach Education Co-ordinator. The ITF was represented by Dave Miley, Executive Director of Tennis Development; Miguel Crespo, Development Research Officer; and Brenden Sharp, Tennis icoach Co-ordinator.

Issues discussed during the meeting included: the actual situation of icoach, the information and educational resources included in the website; the structure of the contents, the sources (i.e. video clips, interviews, articles, recommended books, drills, presentations, e-learnins, online shop, etc.), the access to membership by National Associations and individual coaches interested, and the preferences of coaches visiting the pages, among other points in the agenda.

TA mentioned the positive results of a pool they had conducted with their member coaches in which tennis icoach was identified as one of the three best resources obtained in their membership package with TA. Brenden Sharp emphasised the importance of the search engine inside the website as one of the tools that National Associations could use to obtain the best from the website. Interest was expressed by TA in the importance of linking icoach with the coach professional development and continuous education process (long-life-learning). Miguel Crespo indicated that the direction of icoach was to establish itself as an educational resource with user-friendly tailor-made information for coaches.

Dave Miley concluded the meeting by thanking TA for their continuous support and by reiterating the ITF's commitment in devoting more human and financial resources for the development of this educational tool for the tennis community worldwide.

Meeting between ITF and Tennis Australia on Coaches Education

Miguel Crespo, ITF Development Research Officer, met with Travis Atkison, Manager Coach Develpment for Tennis Australia (TA), and Patrick McInerney, Coach Education Co-ordinator for TA, in a recent visit to Melbourne. During the meetings, the TA Coach Education Structure was thoroughly reviewed in order to obtain the ITF recognition. Atkinson and McInerney provided Crespo specific details of the different resources, documents and information as required by the Guidelines for recognition approved by the ITF Coaches Commission during their last meeting in Paraguay in October 2007.

Further meetings have already been agreed to complete the process during the first half of 2008. At the end of the meeting, Crespo recognised the excellent previous work done by TA in preparation for the meeting and thanked TA officials for their great commitment in providing Australian coaches with the best information and resources possible to help development of Australian tennis.

ITF Development & Coaching staff presenting at the 2008 Australian Grand Slam Coaches Conference

Several members of the ITF Development and Coaching staff gave key note presentations at the 2008 Australian Grand Slam Coaches Conference. This Conference was organised by Tennis Australia during the last week of the Australian Open. Presentations took place at the Vodafone Arena with more than 250 coaches attending. Dave Miley, Executive Director Tennis Development, and Miguel Crespo, Development Research Officer, were part of the faculty at the event. Other speakers included; Roy Emerson, Darren Cahill, Vic Braden, Bob Bigelow, Craig Tiley, Bruce Elliott, Dan Santorum, Damian Farrow, Machar Reid, Craig Morris, Travis Atkinson, Troy Ares, Michael Robinson, Brenden Sharp and Geoff Quinlan.

Dave Miley presented on-court the fundamentals of the Play & Stay project launched by the ITF in 2007. In his presentation, the ball and court progression of red-orange-green was shown to the audience. The audience had the opportunity to try the different balls types and court dimensions by participating in fun games and activities for large groups. The importance of the role of the coach as organiser of the players' activity and the need for the coaches to ensure that all players serve, rally and score in their first tennis lesson was emphasised throughout the presentation.

Miguel Crespo shared with the attending coaches the importance of on-court psychological training for players of all ages and categories by introducing drills to improve the key psychological skills needed for tennis; motivation, emotional control, concentration and self-confidence. Using adapted equipment, altering the goals of the drills and the activities and asking coaches to be innovative in their practices, are some of the strategies that coaches can make available to help players develop their mental skills on-court.

The possibility of combining presentations delivered by high calibre speakers in a unique setting such as the Vodafone Arena combined with the attendance to 2008 Australian Open made of the 2008 Australian Grand Slam Coaches Conference an excellent experience for all of those attending.

Norwegian Coaches Education Department visit the ITF in Valencia

On the 14th of January members and specialists from the Norwegian Tennis Federation came to present a new computer analysis system which has been specifically designed for collecting and analysing tennis performance. The group was headed by Oivind Sorvald, Head of Tennis Education, Aslak J. Paulsen, Assistant of Tennis Education and Jani Tunli, computer expert. The software aims to improve the coaching process providing data and video feedback on technical, tactical, psychological and the physical conditioning of a player. Possible improvements to the software were discussed along with the application of the software to aid players and coaches throughout the tennis world

Meeting of the Spanish Tennis Federation and ITF Coaching

On Monday the 14th of January Dr. David Sanz the Director of coaches' education for the Spanish Tennis Federation, visited the ITF Coaching office in Valencia, Spain. On his visit discussions where raised regarding the ITF recognition of the Spanish Tennis Federation coaches system. Dr. David Sanz provided the ITF with the initial information according to the guidelines highlighted by the Coaches Commission. It was agreed by the ITF and David Sanz that the entire project should be finalized by June 2008. In addition the matter of tennis icoach, the new ITF coaching website, was raised and the possible involvement and subscription of the Spanish Federation coaches with the online ITF education resource. David Sanz also met Scott Over the ITF Assistant Research Officer to explain the current tennis structure and coaching set up within Spain and the involvement of the Spanish Tennis Federation.

New Face in Valencia

Hi my name is Scott Over, and I am the Assistant Research Officer (Previously Patrick McInerney) for the ITF based in Valencia with Miguel Crespo. Last year I graduated my Undergraduate Degree in Sport and Exercise Science where I specialised in Physiology and Performance Analysis. I am originally from Portsmouth in the South of England and as well as being a keen tennis player, I've also competed in volleyball and sailing.

Some of my tasks here in Valencia are to edit both the Monthly Newsletter and the Coaching and Sport Science Review. In addition to editing I will be constantly updating and adding to the coaching resources which are currently already available. I am already struggling with the language but I start lessons shortly and I have been speaking out loud practising with tapes. At the moment I really love the change in food since my first Spanish omelette the day I arrived and look forward to great Paella and possibly a victorious Valencia football season. We can always hope!

ITF Committees and Commissions 2007-2009

The ITF Coaches Commission for 2007-2009 were appointed at the Board of Directors meeting held in Madrid in November 2007. The appointments are for a two-year period and take immediate effect.

Coaches Commission

Chairman: Mr Ismail El Shafei (EGY/BoD)

Members:

Mr Travis Atkinson (AUS), Mr Hemant Bandre (IND), Mr Hans Peter Born (GER), Ms Debbie Kirkwood(CAN), Mr Cesar Kist (BRA), Mr Paul Lubbers (USA), Mr Gustavo Luza (ARG), Mr Steve Martens (BEL/GBR), Mr Hichem Nasser (EGY), Mr Bernard Pestre (FRA), Mr Hichem Riani (TUN), Mr Alberto Riba (ESP), Mr Paul Roetert (USA), Ms Larissa Shaerer (PAR), Mr Minoru Ueda (JPN), Mr Frank van Fraayenhoven (NED)

INFORMATION FROM NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND OTHER TENNIS ORGANISATION

JOB VACANCY

National Coach

Perth Location, Fantastic Career Opportunity, Attractive Salary & Benefits

A fantastic opportunity currently exists to join Tennis Australia (TA). Reporting to the TA Manager - Athlete Development, this Perth-based role is responsible for the overall development and improvement of all scholarship and non-scholarship athletes within the National Academy (NA) - Perth.

The National Coach will be required to design and develop specific player development plans for each athlete and will be a national selector, involved in the selection process of players in national and international tours and wild cards allocations. Responsibilities include:

Overseeing and managing all Tennis and Training aspects and programs at the NA - Perth

Organising and conducting NA Training Camps

Promoting Tennis Australia Coach Education & Membership

Overseeing the selection of a NA Coach to deliver all areas of Talent Search

Presentations at National Conferences

To be successful in this role, it is preferred that applicants possess a Tertiary qualification in Sport Science relating to high performance and elite tennis athletes. It is also preferred that applicants possess a TA High Performance Coaching qualification or International equivalent. A demonstrated ability to develop and implement a high performance tennis program for developmental and high performance tennis athletes is highly regarded, as is previous experience coaching tennis at an elite national or international level with a successful track record.

The successful applicant will have the ability to form professional relationships with tennis athletes and the capacity to motivate and use personal relationships to gain the expected level of performance from each tennis athlete. Please forward applications via email to: Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla . by COB Friday 15th February 2008.

JOB VACANCY

Coach Opening in China

1. Job description: A master coach for some girls(2-3girls), who were born around 1989. The coach will take all responsibilities for these girls and travel with the girls.

2. Training location: Normally the coach can have training in the southern part of China such as Jiangmen in the winter, and northern part of China such as Beijing in the summer. The coach makes the training and competition schedule for these girls.

3. Salary: The salary is $1900 after tax per week. According to Chinese government rules, foreign coach can not get a bonus from players' prize money.

4. Contract Period: We want to sign at least one year contract with the coach at the beginning, and hope that he or she can work at least 40 weeks for this contract.

5. Expenses: We will cover the coach's food, accommodations and domestic and Intel. air tickets (Economy class) related to the training and competition, but will not cover air tickets for his or her vacation and holiday. Se realizó en la ciudad de Panamá el curso corto los dias 20 y 21 de noviembre.

Please forward applications via email to: Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla

JOB VACANCY

Coach Opening in China

There is also a private tennis club, which is located in Liaoning province, northern part of China, starting developing junior tennis. They have already selected some athletic talented boys and girls who are aged from 8 to 10 years old, and want to find an experienced coach who is good at basic training for juniors. The salary they can provide is weekly US$1300. The other conditions are similar with Opening One as below.

Please forward applications via email to: Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla

BECAS DE FORMACIÓN Y PRÁCTICAS DE ENTRENAMIENTO

Si estás interesado en obtener una beca de formación y prácticas de entrenamiento en nuestra Academia durante el año 2008, dirigido y supervisado por el staff técnico de la Academia Equelite-JCFerrero, contacta con el Sr. Samuel López en Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla si es durante cualquier época del año salvo el verano, y con el Sr. Javier Viguera en Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text87249 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla si es durante los meses de Verano(junio, julio, agosto). Las plazas son limitadas.