isaac
College or High School coaching?
I am interested in coaching tennis as a career but unsure if i want to be at a university or high school? I have been coaching for 4 years/ I am a junior and play tennis at Schreiner University. I also work the UT Tennis Camp during the summer. Before i left for college I coached a program called Tennis Success in Corpus Christi, Texas. While I was one of the coaches the program won Chapter of the Year. Here is a video of the program https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7de8lnY-LdM
Where would getting better benefits be most likely? #coaching #tennis
1 answer
Brett Sinclair
Brett’s Answer
Hi Issac,
Just some background on me. I have been teaching tennis since I was 12 (27 now). I decided not to play on my high school team senior year and instead became the head coach at the feeding middle school. I later properly became USPTA certified and went on to be the head coach at three different high schools.
Since you have some teaching under your belt, the first thing I would say that you should do is test to get your United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) certification. This will highly increase your credibility, give you court insurance, and open so many doors at racquet clubs .
If laws are the same for you as they are for me in Indiana, you can not be a high school coach and run a tennis program. (check your high school athletics rules to see if that is true there too) Because of that, there are a few paths you can take. None really better than another just depends on your life preferences.
Coaching High School: Can get political to move into and some big marketing and networking you may need to do to position yourself for it. But extremely rewarding. But you may only have the opportunity to do it during the boy's and girl's seasons. Holding another job that allows you to get off in time for practice can be tricky.
University: I do not have a ton of experience here, but from what I would imagine, you might want to be a fair bit in age away from that before you do it. It's hard to coach people in your age range and the liabilities get really really messy. Maybe save that for later in life.
Your own program/ teaching for a club (and sometimes hospitals): If you want to really boost your brand and have tennis be a full time thing, this is where you want to look. They can also be coveted spots. USPTA certification is a must. But if you get that going, you are pretty much set for life. And may even be able to coach high school when the season is going too. My dad had his own program when he taught and could bring in 100K a summer. So not bad potential.
You can also look for coaching with USTA. They have summer camps, well known, but until you are one of the head coaches they pay is more for high school/ college summer jobs not career. But it can give you a network to really build yourself up through.
It all really just depends on what you want to do with life outside of tennis. And be ready for it to be very hard on your knees.
Either way, I wish you the best of luck!
Brett Sinclair