Thank you to the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) for the opportunity to join them in NYC 2022 and lead a workshop as part of the PTRW Empowering Women program. The PTRW program has been developed to support, educate and provide resources for women coaches.
After a Pandemic enforced two-year absence from in-person workshops, and only a virtual world to support coach learning and development the choice of focus for this event was a relatively easy one for e.t.c coaching consultants. 'The Art and Application of Reflective Practice' workshop was designed to help coaches reflect on the coach they would most like to be in their own coaching environment and then consider how they can leverage reflective practice to drive the change they want to create.
Reflective practice when undertaken intentionally is often the glue that helps scaffold coach learning and drives development, growth and nurtures coaching excellence. The likely domino of this impact then on player experience and player outcomes is a positive one. Simply put, better coaches equals better players.
Perhaps the most challenging piece for coaches was to identify the 3 words they would most like to use the describe their coaching. Emphasis on the words 'most like'.
As a reference point, friend and colleague Kathy Rinaldi (National Womens Coach, USTA), offered her 3 words which had very little to do with what she was coaching and more aligned with how!
Thank you Kathy, a wonderful trigger for some reflective thinking and conversation!
The how to coach focus was further reinforced by the coaches in the room who were 'amazed' by the consistency of the responses and the emphasis on the word fun!
The workshop closed with a silent group GROW to help each coach think about how they will implement just one of their three coaching words to drive the change they want to be.
Thank you again to the PTR, the PTR Board and to Brian Parkkonen and Milena Vidos for the invitation to rejoin the world of in-person coach learning and development.
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