What are the Tennis Leader Awards?
Tennis Leaders is an exciting award scheme for 13 – 17 year olds who want to gain new skills, knowledge and experience.
The Tennis Leaders course is made up of 4 modules that will provide you with different skills and experience and enable you to volunteer as an assistant coach, competition assistant, playing partner and promote your club.
In fact Tennis Leaders is your first step towards a career in tennis or sport. Even if you don’t think you want to work in sport, becoming a Tennis Leader will provide you with lots of skills, experience and knowledge that will help you when applying for courses, universities and even on your CV when you apply for your first job.
You can take part in Tennis Leaders courses at school or at your club so why not ask your teacher or coach to set up a course. Alternatively contact your local county office, they will be able to let you know of a course happening in your area.
The Tennis Leader modules
Planning, Organisation and Communication
- Understand the importance of planning.
- Recognise and be able to use effective communication skills.
- Understand the importance of good organisation on and off court.
- Put your skills into practice on court.
Club media and communications
- Understand why media and communications are important to the development of your club.
- Be able to assist with/be responsible for media and communication tasks within the club.
Playing partner/buddy hitting
- Know the attributes of a good buddy hitter.
- Know how to feed appropriately.
- Understand the 5 game situations of singles.
- Learn how to feed in game based situations.
Competition assistant
- Understand why competition is important.
- Be able to assist your coach, club organiser or referee at a local tournament.
- Gain confidence and knowledge of the competition framework.
When can you call yourself a Tennis Leader?
You will gain different skills by completing each Tennis Leaders module. It is recommended that you complete all the modules to enable you to get a broad range of experience. However, to call yourself a Tennis Leader you must:-
- Complete the Planning, Organisation and Communication module (or Sports Leaders UK Level1)
- Complete one additional tennis module of your choice.
- Carry out 6 hours volunteering experience.
Katie, 16, from Warwickshire commented:
“My self confidence has improved since completing the Tennis Leader Award. Now I get as much pleasure assisting tennis related activities as I do playing the game! I’ve been able to use the skills I’ve learnt in lots of areas, helping out with mini tennis lessons, helping to run competitions for juniors and seniors at my club and designing our club newsletter with the committee”
Would you like to run a course?
If you are a coach or teacher who would like to run this course, you can go along to a local training day that will fill you in on everything you need to know.
If you would like to find out more about this please contact your local LTA county office
Sport Leaders UK
Sports Leaders UK is the awarding body for the Sports Leaders qualifications. The Level 1 Award in Sports Leadership is a nationally recognised qualification that enables successful candidates to lead small groups in simple sport and recreational activities whilst under the direct supervision of their tutor.
The qualification teaches generic leadership skills such as organisation, planning, communication and teamwork through the medium of sport. It is a fun and practical qualification with no entrance requirements or final examinations to sit. Young people need to be 14 to take part in this course. For more information go to www.sportsleaders.org/
Step Into Sport
Step into Sport is part of the PESSYP (PE, School Sport and Young People) strategy and funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It is aimed at providing opportunities for young people aged 14 to 19 to become involved in sports leadership and volunteering and encouraging them to continue this into later life.
The Youth Sport Trust and Sport England manage and lead the development of the programme. It is the NGBs role to offer awards to support this programme, to support young people undertaking volunteering roles and provide high quality opportunities for young people to volunteer. Tennis Leader deliverers should familiarise themselves with the programme - for more information go to www.youthsporttrust.org/page/step-into-sport/
What is the SiS Volunteer Passport?
The SiS Volunteer Passport is the new online portfolio for the Step IN /Step OUT Community Volunteering and School Based volunteering programmes involved in Step into Sport. The system will log and manage all community volunteering/school based volunteering hours; it will also allow easy tracking of volunteers and the hours/placements and qualifications. The Step into Sport Volunteer Passport can be accessed via www.youthsporttrust.org. You will find a link in the useful link section.