What are the benefits to coaches in linking with further education colleges and universities?
Are you a coach looking to develop and expand your programme, grow your business and help more young people aged 16-25yrs to play tennis? Further education colleges and universities across Great Britain are now benefiting from a range of support and resources from the LTA and Tennis Foundation to grow tennis provision at college/ university sites. Tennis is being used in a variety of different ways to enhance the ‘Student Experience’ and students are playing traditional tennis, Short Tennis, Cardio Tennis and getting competitive at every level whether it’s by playing quick fire Timed Tennis matches or competing for their college or university tennis teams.
In addition to expanding the opportunities available on site, they are also keen to build links into community tennis venues and signpost opportunities for their students to play, compete, volunteer and coach.
The further education and university sectors are now ‘choosing tennis’….
- For their enrichment programmes, to engage and encourage students to take part in physical activity more regularly.
They are also ‘choosing tennis’…
- To train, develop and skill their learners for the future, giving them a step up when it comes to higher education or career pathways.
The Tennis Foundation’s Further Education Tennis Programme is aimed at growing and sustaining the number of young people aged 16 to 19 years participating, competing, volunteering and coaching tennis. For those students taking their next steps into Higher Education we also have the University Tennis Programme which aims to grow the game, by creating more opportunities for university students to play and compete. It also aims to provide students with the latest training packages, for those that have an ambition to become part of the future workforce for British Tennis.
The Guide to Further Education Tennis provides an overview of the Further Education offer in more detail, as do the Further Education Tennis webpages / promotional film.
Visit - www.tennisfoundation.org.uk/furthereducation
The Guide to University Tennis provides an overview of the University offer in more detail, as do the University Tennis webpages / promotional film.
Visit - www.tennisfoundation.org.uk/universitytennis
Developing a link with a local college or university can bring many benefits to coaches and tennis venues, including:
- The opportunity to recruit new members and regular, weekly participants.
- Help to reduce the drop-off in participation between the 16-25 year old age groups.
- The opportunity of growing capacity on your programmes, through developing new volunteers, Tennis Leaders, Competition Organisers and Coaching Assistants.
- Access to more facilities to expand your programme (eg. you might be able to negotiate free access or reduced rates for indoor sports facilities, in return for your coaching expertise in the curriculum).
- Raise the profile of your tennis venue in the local community.
Ideas Bank…
- Colleges and universities may be looking for a coach to deliver tennis on their enrichment programme, so it is worth approaching them to see what opportunities you might be able to support them with. In a college try to make contact with their College Sport Maker, Enrichment Officer or alternatively the Head of Sport. In a university your best point of contact will be the Students’ Union.
- Universities will often be looking for high level coaches to train their tennis teams, these players will also be interested in joining local clubs during term time so it could not only provide you with some extra coaching hours but also provide your tennis club teams with some useful new recruits.
- A number of colleges are setting up ‘Tennis Academy Programmes’ which offer students the chance to train and compete regularly during the week, alongside their academic studies, by linking with local tennis venues and coaches. In addition, students will also develop their skills and knowledge for a possible future career in tennis as a coach or development/ management professional, or even to give them the platform to perform at a higher level during any future university studies. If your local college already run sports academies it is worth approaching them to discuss setting up a ‘Tennis Academy’, this could cater for those students who may not qualify for the AASE Programme but are still keen to develop their own game, compete regularly and those interested in coaching as a potential career pathway.
- Colleges delivering BTEC Sport study programmes will cover a variety of topics where tennis coaches could add value to the learning experience, eg. Sports coaching, leadership in sport, sports development and practical sport. Colleges are being tasked with ensuring their students can apply what they learn in the classroom to real life vocational situations, so coaches could approach their local college to see how they can support curriculum delivery and what opportunities their venues can provide to help students to both enjoy tennis and to learn through the sport.
- Colleges are particularly keen to train and deploy Sports and Public Services students into community sports settings to enhance their post-course employability. Assisting at community tennis events can provide ideal opportunities for students to develop a variety of transferable skills and gain valuable vocational experiences. This type of partnership can also provide you with a regular workforce to run school competitions, festivals and venue open days.
- You can expand your workforce by recruiting and training students as volunteers and assistants as part of their college or university work experience – they could turn out to be your next Tennis Apprentice, Assistant Coach or Competition Organiser!
Hear how other coaches have made successful links with their local colleges…
Name: Julien Lawes
Role: Head Coach, Weymouth Tennis Club
College: Weymouth College, Dorset
“I have been taking Cardio Tennis sessions with four different classes on the Weymouth College site. Sessions have catered for a variety of different students, from public services students to those on social care courses. We run the session to give the students different ways to train and keep fit. I can’t believe how well the link with the college works and I look forward to continuing the partnership. We also run a Weymouth College tennis academy to where we invite the top players from the college to come and train with me at the indoor tennis centre. All players that attend this training session then stay on to help the team from JLawes tennis and Weymouth Tennis Club to help with the after school tennis programme. In the future we hope for the players to go on to coaching awards, we already have two coaches who were previously students at the college working as part of the tennis team at Jlawes Tennis and we hope to see more coaches come though the college system.”
Name: Mark Tennant
Role: Director, inspire2coach (inspire2coach is an LTA/Skills active accredited Coach
Education Centre)
College: Henley College, Coventry
“inspire2coach has worked closely with Henley College since 2008. As the largest college in Coventry, we have helped them bring tennis into the sport/PE curriculum, and this has since been extended into other areas of the college programme, including the business school, student placements and apprenticeships. In 2010 inspire2coach started our apprenticeship programme, which was developed further in 2012 to become a Level 2 Apprenticeship in Activity Leadership. Our one year apprenticeship in Activity Leadership enables the apprentices to earn while they learn, gain an NVQ and Level 2 tennis coaching qualification. All this is supported through our partnership with Henley College in Coventry.”
Name: Nick Bass
Role: Club Manager, Hazelwood Sports Club
College: Barnet and Southgate College
Barnet and Southgate College now offers an exciting Tennis Educational Academy Programme run in partnership with Hazelwood LTC, this opportunity for both boys and girls aged 16 to 19 gives them the chance to train and compete regularly during the week, working with the highly skilled and qualified coaches at Hazelwood LTC to improve their own tennis performance. In addition students will hone their skills and knowledge for a possible future career in the game as a coach or tennis development/management professional, or even to give them the platform to perform at a higher level during any future university studies.
“The partnership between the college and for us at Hazelwood Sports Club has certainly been beneficial. Having experienced both developing their own playing performance and coaching skills, the players know more about the game and as a result, we feel that the potential exists for them to become quality coaches, move onto university, go into the sports industry and also play competitive tennis for Hazelwood Sports Club.”