In partnership with the US Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE) the USTA are continuing to prioritize the creation of a quality coaching workforce. Recognizing the role and pivotal contributions of the Coach Developer to support and guide quality coach development, the USCCE were asked to lead the delivery of the USTA's second Coach Developer Academy at the USTA's National Campus in Orlando, in mid December.
Alongside colleagues Linda Low, Dr Kristen Dieffenbach and Dr Melissa Thomson we facilitated the ICCE's 3-day workshop which is designed to help tennis professionals develop and hone the skills they need to design, facilitate and evaluate high quality classroom and practical learning experiences for coaches.
Topics addressed in this workshop include how adults learn, delivery strategies for effective learning, and facilitation skills for coach developers including questioning, listening, and providing feedback to support learning. There are many opportunities within the workshop for learners to explore and apply key concepts in the classroom and on the court. Perhaps the most valuable learning is facilitated after opportunities to practice facilitate learning with high quality feedback generated from self, peers and workshop leads.
Feedback from learners has been consistently high with Jason Allen, Manager of Wheelchair Tennis offering the following:
'This workshop far exceeded my expectations...I have been through too many education workshops to even remember and my fear going into to all of them is...will the facilitators actually conduct the training using the same principles of education they are trying to instill in us? You all knocked it out of the park! We were all highly engaged throughout the three days and grew immensely. Thank you for the opportunity to take part!!!'