Thank you for your interest in the BTCA Coach Assistant Award. This program provides a structured pathway for your assistants to develop their coaching skills while supporting you in your sessions. It helps newly qualified assistants gain confidence, practical experience, and essential skills to prepare for a future career in tennis coaching.

Course Overview

The course involves your assistant working alongside you for 12 hours of volunteering, during which you will mentor and guide them through the BTCA Coach Assistant Qualification. As part of the sessions, you will split your group, allowing your assistant to take responsibility for a portion while you oversee the rest. Under your guidance, they will demonstrate skills outlined in specific modules, enabling you to observe, assess, and provide feedback.

At times, particularly in small groups, you may allow your assistant to lead drills and exercises, giving you an opportunity to evaluate both the players and the assistant's learned skills.

Key Course Components

1. Student Training Card

Each student will have a digital ‘Student Training Card’ saved to the wallet app on their phone. This card tracks progress through 8 learning modules over 12 volunteer hours.

• Each completed volunteer hour or module earns 1 point.
• The 12 volunteer hours + 8 modules = 20 points required to complete the course.
• You will sign off progress by scanning the student's QR code after each session.
• Upon reaching 20 points, the student passes the course and receives a digital certificate, which can be accessed via your BTCA Admin Panel and presented digitally or in print.

2. Planning & Module Selection

• Each module provides structured guidance to enhance the assistant’s skills.
• Before each session, assign a module for your assistant to review in advance.
• They should read the corresponding notes on their Student Training Card.
• The next session, they will demonstrate their understanding under your supervision.
• You will observe and assess their performance, offering feedback.

3. The Learning Modules

The course consists of eight key modules, each focusing on a critical aspect of coaching:

1. Organisation Skills

• Efficiently managing sub-groups to maximize engagement and hitting time.
• Grouping players appropriately by ability and optimizing court space.
• Ensuring smooth transitions between drills and minimizing waiting times.
• Adjusting exercises for different skill levels within the same group.
• Developing time management skills to keep drills structured and effective.

2. Communication Skills

• Delivering clear instructions to groups for smooth session flow.
• Using both verbal and visual communication (e.g., pointing, gestures).
• Encouraging and motivating players with positive reinforcement.
• Adjusting tone, volume, and enthusiasm to match session needs.
• Ensuring communication is clear enough to avoid confusion or misinterpretation.

3. Comprehension Skills

• Understanding and executing coaching instructions accurately.
• Absorbing group-wide explanations to avoid unnecessary clarifications.
• Developing the ability to ask for help when unsure about instructions.
• Ensuring assistant listens actively and anticipates next steps.

4. Delivery Skills

• Mastering drop feeding, throw feeding, basket feeding, and rally feeding.
• Selecting the appropriate feeding method for different drills.
• Adjusting feeds based on player level to suit drill objectives.
• Ensuring precise ball placement to match the intended technical focus.
• Developing adaptability in feeding to support movement and footwork drills.

5. Marketing & Promotion Skills

• Assisting with marketing tasks under the coach’s supervision.
• Creating social media content, posters, or promotional materials.
• Learning how to promote upcoming coaching sessions effectively.

6. Administration Skills

• Handling basic off-court administrative tasks.
• Managing attendance records, player sign-ups, or session planning.

7. Planning Skills

• Understanding the fundamentals of lesson/session planning.
• Differentiating between proactive planning (structured plans) and reactive planning (adjusting based on group response).
• Completing a simple planning task, with mentor feedback.

8. Health & Safety

• Conducting risk assessments before sessions (weather, court conditions, obstacles).
• Ensuring a safe playing environment (e.g., positioning of cones, spacing of groups).
• Enforcing safety protocols (no unsupervised racquet swinging, awareness of external factors affecting play).

4. Signing Off Modules & Volunteer Hours

At the end of each session, the assistant will present their digital Student Training Card for you to scan, adding a point when:

1. They successfully demonstrate the key skills from the module.
2. They complete an hour of volunteering.

Once the assistant accumulates 20 points, their digital certificate is generated in your BTCA Admin Panel, ready for awarding.

Course Benefits

This course not only helps your assistants develop coaching skills but also provides valuable volunteer support for your sessions. By guiding them through this process, you are:

• Upskilling new assistants while improving your coaching program.
• Encouraging structured, real-world coaching experience.
• Providing a pathway for future qualified coaches.

We hope the BTCA Coach Assistant Award enhances both your coaching sessions and the development of your assistants!