Competencies can be defined as the combination of skills (application of

experience and knowledge – how to do the job), knowledge (facts, feelings or

experiences known by the coach - what to do in the job) and attitudes
(interpersonal features – what the coach is) that coaches should possess to do
their jobs well, and therefore meet market and customer needs as well as the
standard performance expected of their employment. Competence occurs
when a threshold of coaching experiences is obtained and effectively shown.

All coaches should strive to become the best tennis professional that they can
be. Experience has shown that achieving as much is not only demanding but
particularly rewarding. On behalf of the coach, it requires a wide variety of
competences that are drawn from the aforementioned roles, activities and
tasks.

What constitutes competence in coaching?

The following definitions may help coaches understand what constitutes
competence in coaching:

 Knowledge: The facts, feelings or experiences known by an individual

or group of individuals, that can be categorised as:
Declarative: About things.
Propositional: Relationships between concepts.
Procedural: Knowing how to.
Tacit: Not written down or expressed.

 Skills: The knowledge and experience needed to perform a specific

task or job and skill is the ability to perform a task to a predefined level
of competence and can be considered as being:
Basic (key competences) such as those needed to function in
contemporary society, e.g. listening, speaking, reading, writing, and
mathematics.
Transferable or generic, which can be used across a large number of
different occupations (i.e. learning to learn, technical / digital
competences), and which has been further classified as:
Instrumental competences (decision-making, problem solving,
organisation and planning, computer skills and analyses and
 synthesis).

 Interpersonal competences (interpersonal skills, teamwork, critical

abilities, communication).

 Systematic competences (project design, knowledge to practice,

leadership, creativity, adaptability, capacity to learn).

 Specific occupational or technical, which are needed to work within

an occupation or occupational group.

Coaches should be equipped to carry out the elements of their role effectively
and ethically. The coach should be competent in both the practical and
theoretical areas that are closely associated with their day-to-day work. It
then follows that the work of coaches should be underpinned by a strong
Code of Ethics and Conduct designed to protect the safety, welfare and rights
of all tennis participants. Their competences should also be closely related to
the needs of the labour market and/or the requirements of their employ
(federations, clubs, schools, companies...). Many of the competences overlap;
aspects essential to one domain will support competence in another.
Nevertheless, basic competences support all activities, and coaches need to
apply their knowledge, demonstrating and practising specific skills, to
enhance their effectiveness in fostering player progress, confidence,
responsibility and empowerment.

Developing as a coach
Recognising your strengths and limitations as a coach:

Having acknowledged that setting goals is important; coaches need to make

sure that the goals they set are realistic given their personal and professional
strengths and limitations.

Tennis coaches often specialise in one aspect of their profession. For

example, some coaches specialise in teaching mini-tennis while others work
exclusively with professional players, youngsters, vets, males, females or
wheelchair players. In so doing, these coaches have effectively recognised
their strengths and limitations and thus chosen to concentrate on improving
their skills in working with that particular playing population.

Conversely, other coaches evolve with time and may initially coach young
players before progressing to coaching adults or competitive players. Indeed,
some coaches, while few in number, start coaching one player as a beginner
and continue to work with that player throughout adolescence and his
professional career.

Coaches can evaluate their own personal and professional strengths and
limitations to best structure their coaching, by:

 Introspection: taking a close look at oneself (i.e. “Looking in the

mirror”) and self-examining their coaching motives, beliefs, …
 Constantly assessing and re-evaluating your personal and professional
goals.
 Continually learning and being open to all positive influences.
 Contrasting the direction that your professional career is taking with
those of your role models.
 Creating a life and coaching philosophy based upon all the experiences
and knowledge that you have accrued during your career.
 Seeking a mentor that will be able to give you guidance throughout
your coaching career.

Please study the content below on LTCD before you continue to the quiz...
Content © ITF Licensing 2024
Terms & Conditions | Privacy policy | Course Participation Terms | What`s New
Teaching styles can be defined as “a set of teaching strategies”, “instructional
formats” or “general teaching patterns” used by the coach. Indeed, the notion
of a spectrum or continuum of teaching styles represents a framework of
possible options that could underpin the relationship between coach and
player. This notion was founded on the key role of decision-making in sport,
and considered the three categories that govern all teaching as being:

 Pre-impact: Decisions made before teaching and involves:

- Subject matter.
- Learning objectives.
- Organisation.
- Presentation.
 Impact: Decisions relating to performance and execution.
 Post-impact: Evaluation of performance and feedback from player to
coach.

Figure 1: The continuum of teaching styles.

The continuum offers coaches a range of approaches to accommodate

players’ diverse learning styles as well as to meet the various lesson
objectives or learning intentions. We can generally distinguish two main
coaching approaches:

 Prescriptive or coach centred styles

 Discovery or player centred styles

Following the questions on the next page, more information will be provided
on the two styles

Please study the table below carefully before answering the questions in the
quiz to follow:
Table 1: Characteristics of different coaching styles.

Open and closed drills

As detailed below (Figure 2), coaches can progress drills or activities in a
closed to open or open to closed fashion. The “direction” of progression will
reflect the learning objectives and the skill level of the players. Indeed, in
some situations it may be that the initial activity corresponds to the middle of
the continuum (i.e. semi-open or semi-closed), before being regressed to a
more static (closed) environment or progressed to a more dynamic (open)
environment: both of which can achieved with or without the basket.

Figure 2: Teaching continuum in tennis.

Coaches may also wish to plan an initial game situation (open) to ascertain
player understanding and evaluate player skill, before introducing a more
traditional closed to open sequence of progressions (Figure 3). In this way,
coaches are effectively able to evaluate how the “improved” tactic or
technique holds up when progressively placed back into the overall context
of the game. Alternatively, transitioning from a more open to closed setting
may be appropriate when specific technical work has been identified as
needed (Figure 4).

Figure 3: Teaching progression from closed to open.

Figure 4: Teaching progression from open to closed.

Table 2 below summarises the advantages and disadvantages of closed and

open situations:

Table 2: Characteristics of open and closed teaching situations.

The Lesson structure
The lesson structure based on the discovery approach is very different from
watching a player in a non-competitive (game) situation (like a drill) and
deciding that “the forehand needs work”. After all, which forehand...: The
one used to return serve, the one used at the back of the court or the one used
in the mid court, the attacking one or the defensive one?

The player should know why the tactic or technique is being taught or
improved – to help them play a better game. This is game-tactical based
coaching, specifically in relation to tennis. The lesson takes the “shape” of an
hourglass shown below:

Figure 5: Structure of the lesson in a tactical-game teaching methodology.

During the face-to-face delivery of the CBI course, the Course Tutors will
cover this in more detail as well as allow you to practice multiple lessons
before you take the assessment.

The importance of introducing and applying biomechanics

Biomechanics are the principles that govern body motion, or the way we
move. As it relates to tennis, biomechanics refers to the actions that take
place to enable a player to run, to jump, to stop quickly, to hit a ball a so on.
Typically, these movements require that certain conditions are satisfied for
the best results (or optimal movement) to be achieved. For example, a player
wanting to hit a forehand or to change direction quickly needs to co-ordinate
certain body parts; activating the relevant musculature at both the appropriate
intensity and time.

The observation of biomechanics at work is evidenced in even the simplest of

tennis movements: from an adjustment step to a drop volley. In the coming
pages of this course, you will see how select biomechanical principles apply
to specific tennis situations and movements. An understanding of how these
principles apply to stroke and/or movement production, when coupled with
an appreciation of their key mechanical characteristics (as detailed in Chapter
6 of the ITF CBI manual), provides coaches with much of the information
necessary to commence the performance analysis-improvement process
referred to in Chapter 11 of the ITF CBI manual.

Remember:

Biomechanics is central to player development as all tennis strokes have a

fundamental mechanical structure. Indeed, coaches who understand the key
mechanical features of a stroke, can analyse movement and communicate,
will provide players the best opportunity for optimal development, with
minimal injury risk.

Please study the table below before moving to the next page of this course.
Content © ITF Licensing 2024

Another word that coaches use often and loosely when referring to
biomechanics is that of technique. It is important for coaches to understand
that the two, while related, are not the same. Biomechanics, as stated before,
is a sport science which studies the principles which affect human motion.
Technique refers to the practical application of these principles by a given
player in a certain stroke or movement. For example, two players can have
very different techniques (i.e. full vs. abbreviated service action) yet use the
principles of biomechanics (i.e. co-ordination-sequencing of segments,
elastic energy) in an appropriate way such that both shots are effective.

Myth 1: Players should turn their entire bodies side-on to the net.
Truth 1: The modern game demands that players be able to play with a
variety of stances.

 Shoulder and hip rotation are necessary ingredients of stroke

production. However, accompanying or exaggerated rotation of the
feet (and therefore the assumption of certain stances, i.e. closed) can
inhibit the extent to which the shoulders and hips can rotate, potentially
hindering the development of racquet velocity. The open stance is an
important feature of stroke production and tactical play in the modern
game.

Myth 2: Players intentionally jump off the ground to produce more

powerful serves and groundstrokes.
Truth 2: Players leave the ground due to the leg action and vigorous body
rotation.

 While leaving the ground is a feature of modern-day stroke production,

it is typically a product of effective segment co-ordination rather than
intent. That is, if players leave the ground early (i.e. jump), the legs,
hips and trunk are unable to contribute optimally, and the segments of
the upper body are required to do more work.

Myth 3: Good players keep their eyes on the ball through ball contact.
Truth 3: A player’s vision remains focused at around 1 metre from
contact.

 Research has demonstrated that the ball becomes somewhat blur 1-2m
away from racquet-ball contact. “e the ball hit the racquet”, a common
teaching cue used by coaches, can lead to beginner players
incorporating unnecessary head rotation into the stroke. Consequently,
coaches are better advised to simply encourage players to track or
concentrate on the ball for as long as possible.
Myth 4: Good players take their racquets back early.
Truth 4: Body rotation actually commences well before racquet movement
takes place.

 Recent evidence from high speed video points to the traditional

thinking of early racquet movement being contrary to the modern,
controlled movement patterns of elite level players. Observations in
fact show that elite players initiate shoulder (body) rotation, well
before racquet movement takes place.

Myth 5: Players play the game on their toes or on their balls of the feet.
Truth 5: Tennis players move on the court using the same heel to toe
progression as runners and other athletes.

 Examining any professional tennis player’s feet often shows extensive

callous formation on the toes and front of the feet. However, like
runners and walkers, they also tolerate sizeable loads through the rear-
foot (i.e. ball of the foot) during typical on-court locomotion

Myth 6: When performing the split-step, both feet come down from the
air and land on the court simultaneously.
Truth 6: Elite level players have been shown to have a specific landing and
foot position sequence during split steps performed throughout
groundstroke rallies on the baseline.

 Landing sequences during the split-step movement are individual.

However, top players tend to land with the foot farthest away from the
ball a split second ahead of the foot nearest to the ball. As the lead foot
(closest to the ball) prepares to land, elite players will actually start
rotating that foot toward the direction of intended movement toward
the ball.

Introduction
Welcome to the ITF Coaching Beginner and Intermediate (CBI) players
course, we are delighted to have you continue your coaching journey with us.
Over the next 20 minutes we provide you with more information on this
course and what you could expect while completing the online subjects as
well as the face-to-face part of this course. All the best with your preparation.
The CBI certification course:

The ITF CBI course is the follow-up course from the ITF Play Tennis course
to progress to the next certification level. The ITF CBI certification course is
delivered through the ITF member Nations. The ITF CBI course is:

 86-hour blended learning course with face-to-face (80 hours over a

recommended 12 days) and online subjects (6 hours) included in the
course.
 assessed by means of a 30 point ‘multiple-choice’ written test, tennis
ability test, group lesson and individual lesson test at the conclusion of
the course.
 the follow-up certification course to the ITF Play Tennis course
intended to prepare coaches to work independently
 available to all ITF member Nations, Colleges or Universities to use as
part of a wider sports or coaching-related curriculum as a follow-up
from the ITF Play Tennis course.

General information
The aim of the ITF CBI certification course:

The aim of the ITF CBI course is to help participants gain knowledge and
skills (competencies) on how to coach tennis to beginner and intermediate
players of all ages, organising and delivering tennis sessions in a fun and
effective learning environment through a holistic approach.

The ITF CBI course is suitable for:

 Age: participants must be 18 years of age at the moment of taking this

course.
 Fitness and health level: participants should have a personal health
and fitness level that will enable them to physically complete the
requirements of the course. Course tutors reserve the right to request
proof of health and fitness from a medical practitioner.
 Qualification: successful completion of the ITF Play Tennis course
with recommendation to attend the ITF CBI course
 Level of play: Participants need a minimum level of play (ability to
rally / demonstrate basic strokes / feed balls to players). There will be a
demonstration test (level of play test) during the course to assess the
 playing standard of all course participants. Participants are expected
challenge beginner and intermediate players through feeding and rally
(live ball) situations.

General course details:

Upon the successful completion of the 12-day ITF CBI course, participants
will be able to work with beginner and intermediate players. Participants will
continue to develop their knowledge of the role of the coach, player
development, methodology strategy, tactics, technique, biomechanics,
physical and mental aspects to successfully coach beginner and intermediate
players.

Assessments:

The ITF CBI course concludes with all the participants being assessed by
means of:

 ‘multiple-choice’ written test,

 a tennis ability test
 group lesson test
 and individual lesson test.

The written test will cover the key information from the course and the CBI
manual. Tutors will be provided with a choice of different written test papers
to administer to the participants. Participants must achieve 67% (20/30
answers) to pass the written test. During the course, participants will receive
two opportunities for the level of play, group and individual lesson if
required. Participants may retake any failed (not yet competent in)
assessment(s) at a later stage to complete the course.

Course resources:

 ITF Coaching Beginner and Intermediate Players Manual,

 ITF Play & Tennis Manual,
 ITF STI Teacher’s Manual,
 ITF Rules of Tennis (*).

(*) to be downloaded by the candidates

Not all the contents included in the resources will be covered during the
Course.
The candidates will be given guidelines on the most relevant contents that
will be covered during the Course.

Modules and subjects:

The ITF CBI course is divided into online modules to be completed before
the course) and face-to-face modules delivered on site where the course is
scheduled to take place. The following modules form part of the course:

 Management & Education

 Sports Science & Training
 Competition

Each module is divided into various subjects, as explained in the table

below:

Further details on the modules and subjects can be found in the ITF CBI
course schedule for candidates available here.
Course content per day:

Further details on the day-to-day schedule can be found in the ITF CBI
course schedule for candidates available here.

The ITF CBI course concludes with all the participants being assessed
by means of:

 ‘multiple-choice’ written test,

 a tennis ability test
 group lesson test
 and individual lesson test.

The written test will cover the key information from the course including the
ITF Coaching beginner and intermediate players course manual. Tutors will
be provided with a choice of different written test papers to administer to the
participants. Participants must achieve 67% (20/30 answers) to pass the
written test. During the course, participants will receive two opportunities for
the level of play, group and individual lesson if required. Participants may
retake any failed (not yet competent in) assessment(s) at a later stage to
complete the course.
Grading:

The following grading system applies to all ITF certification courses:

 Not yet competent (NYC): 1

 Competent (C): 2
 Excellent (E): 3

Final course results:

All participants who are competent/pass in the written, group lesson,

individual and level of play test will receive a certificate of competence for
the ITF CBI course. Participants who pass all assessments, can progress to
the ITF CAP course. In cases where participants are assessed and found to be
not yet competent (received a 1 rating), the participant may retake the
identified assessment(s) after a period of six (6) months. The course
participant result sheet will provide detailed information on how to prepare
for the retest.

For more information and to download the various mock assessments, please
click here.

 CBI GROUP LESSON ASSESSMENT SHEET.pdf

 CBI INDIVIDUAL LESSON ASSESSMENT SHEET.pdf

 CBI OVERALL ASSESSMENT SHEET.pdf

 CBI TENNIS ABILITY ASSESSMENT SHEET.pdf

 WORKBOOK 1 - CH 2. - KNOWING YOURSELF AS A

COACH.pdf
 WORKBOOK 2 - CH 2. - COMMUNICATION.pdf

 WORKBOOK 4 - CH10. - FEEDING.pdf

 WORKBOOK 5 - CH10. - PLANNING.pdf

 WORKBOOK 6 - CH 7-11. - BIOMECHANICS.pdf

 WORKBOOK 7 - CH.5 - PLAYER GROWTH.pdf

 WORKBOOK 8 - CH11. - TEACHING METHODOLOGY

- ANALYSIS.pdf

 WORKBOOK 9 - CH10. - TEACHING METHODOLOGY

- COACHING.pdf

 WORKBOOK 10 - CH8. - PHYSICAL

CONDITIONING.pdf

 WORKBOOK 11 - PLAYING LEVEL.pdf

 WORKBOOK 12 - CH9. - PSYCHOLOGY.pdf

 WORKBOOK 13 - CH18. - SPORTS MEDICINE.pdf

 WORKBOOK 14 - CH10. - EVALUATION.pdf

  WORKBOOK 15 - CH14. - COMPETITIONS.pdf

 WORKBOOK 16 - CH15. - PROGRAMMES.pdf

 ITF CBI COURSE - WRITTEN MOCK EXAM.pdf

 WORKBOOK 3 - CH6. - STRATEGY AND TACTICS.pdf

The role of the course tutor:

 Leading the course organisation

 Sharing information (coach to coach)
 Listening, discussing and pooling ideas
 Troubleshooting and problem solving
 Challenging coaches to analyse their own practice
 Setting action plans

The role of the course participant:

 The role of the course participant:

 Motivation and interest in learning
 Professionalism
 Good behaviour and ethical standard
 Punctuality, proper dress, etc
endorsed