We were thrilled to invite our coaches to a high-quality, subsidised CPD opportunity as part of the Hampshire & IOW Tennis Coach Network. Organised in partnership with UCoach and the LTA, and in response to a poll of local coaches, we were delighted to have two keynote speakers on Wednesday 29th March at David Lloyd Southampton (9 am – 1 pm) – Lucie Ahl and Suzanne Williams.
Suzanne Williams delivered a 2-hour session called: Never Waste a Warm-Up. This session provided an overview of the reasons for including S&C in tennis sessions, which may not be what coaches think it is. It went on to explain the optimal framework by which to structure your pre-tennis preparation. It was a mixture of theory and practical and coaches learnt the sport science behind optimal preparation and had a go at the exercises of each phase.
Suzanne is an LTA Level 5 High-Performance tennis coach, a UKSCA accredited Strength & Conditioning Coach, has a BSc (Hons) degree in Sport Science and is an LTA Coach Education tutor. Suzanne was Emma Radacanu’s S&C coach when she was a junior, and with tennis players for over two decades of all ages and abilities. Suzanne is the is author of Tennis Fitness Course- a tennis-specific educational resource, outlining the role of physical training for tennis.
Lucie Ahl delivered a 2-hour on-court interactive session: Working with performance players, an insight into what the top British professional players do on the practice court. Coaches were able to practice drills that players like Andy Murray, Dan Evans, Emma Raducanu and many more do when training.
Lucie is a former British number 1 and WTA 161 singles player. She competed numerous times at Grand Slams and has a 100% record at the Fed Cup representing Great Britain. Life after playing tennis professionally has taken Lucie into coaching, as a travelling coach with Laura Robson, Jodie Burrage and many more. She has had a successful coaching career working with top British juniors and senior players, both male and female. She´s also now a member of the LTA Coach Education Team, helping develop the next generation of GB coaches.
After the CPD, the coaches were invited to stay for some lunch and had the opportunity to share best practice with the other coaches and County and LTA colleagues were also on hand to help with any queries or support needed.
We had 30 coaches attend and this qualified them to apply for 4 licence credits via Independent Learning.
We are very grateful to our partners for facilitating the subsidy for this course and a big thank you to Suzanne and Lucie, for delivering such informative interactive sessions, and to Nigel Long (UCoach) and Julie Jones (LTA), for making the event possible.
