{"id":1209,"date":"2019-05-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/how-tennis-canada-is-coaching-its-coaches\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:33","slug":"jocelyn-robichaud","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/jocelyn-robichaud\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tennis Canada is Coaching its Coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n May 09, 2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

How Tennis Canada is Coaching its Coaches<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Coaching & Development<\/a> <\/div>\n
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Jocelyn Robichaud, Head of Elite Coach Development, walks us through the nation\u2019s high performance coaching pathway.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Tennis is a sport on the rise in Canada \u2013 and that means the standard of coaching is of vital importance.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

Jocelyn Robichaud, a former ATP Tour professional, oversees Tennis Canada\u2019s elite coach development in his role as Director of High Performance Coaching Development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Canada, we have two pathways for coaches,\u201d he tells the Leaders Performance Institute. \u201cOne is for coaches who work in local leagues and the other pathway, where I work, is the high performance pathway, which is for those looking to coach at national, international and Olympic level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robichaud runs us through some of the options available to coaches at the elite end, while touching upon the logistical challenges of providing for coaches in such a vast country. \u201cIt\u2019s important to bring coaches together, both in terms of chemistry and in enabling them to connect with us and each other so that our messages do not get diluted.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has made the transition from playing to coaching but it can be a steep learning curve for those starting out. \u201cThis is a challenge for former players because the world doesn\u2019t rely on you anymore,\u201d explains Robichaud. \u201cEverything is centred around you as a player and, as a coach, it is now the opposite \u2013 you\u2019re a bit of an outsider.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem can be that former players believe they know everything because they\u2019ve been on tour and so they don\u2019t really see the value in doing their certification.\u201d As he tells us, this is starting to change in Canada thanks to Tennis Canada\u2019s certified coach development system.<\/p>\n

What does the pathway look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> There is a short instruction course that runs for six months and, from there, the coach must decide whether to take the Club Professional or High Performance Pathway, which is split into four sections titled Coach 2, Coach 3, Coach 4 and Coach 5. Coach 2 is a 14-month course, which includes six regroupings of four or five days every second month. In between modules they have assignments to complete using the Dartfish platform. Our certification is competency-based so we try to make them work as much as possible instead of just providing information and hoping that they will retain everything we make them apply it. They will record themselves and send our six course facilitators and I footage to review and provide feedback. Coach 3 follows a similar structure and length; one of the six regroupings will include an ITF tournament, which is an international junior tournament. There is a risk that coaches stay in their clubs too long and lose track of the top level. Then we have the Coach 4; that\u2019s two years in length and run in sync with the national sports institute, which is directed by the Canadian Association of Coaches, who runs all sports in Canada; it\u2019s a much more specific, a much more detailed course. And the Coach 5 is basically for Olympic coaches, it\u2019s more based on experience and there aren\u2019t too many modules on that course. They have to prove they have all the competencies.<\/p>\n

It sounds like a steady path to the pinnacle.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> If they want to become Olympic coaches it\u2019s almost a ten-year process. If they\u2019ve taken Coach 2 then we\u2019re not necessarily going to send them to Coach 3. We want to give them a year or so to gain experience; so just doing Coach 2 and Coach 3 can take you a good four or five years.<\/p>\n

What do practical assignments look like on the high performance pathway?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> They film themselves coaching on court and, depending on exactly the objective of the assignment, which could be providing feedback. For example, Coach 2 is based on organising your drill, your court, feedback intensity, court volumes. We have evaluations that we need to practice then we evaluate before we evaluate them live; Coach 2 would be high performance fundamental training, that would be one of the training challenging point situations or private lessons with a technical focus; we have five or six evaluations that they need to practice; those are the topics that we pick. We also have a main course project along that entire process and so they need to work with at least two national players. At the end of the year, they have to show us the yearly plan: how they made improvements with the players and things like that. We also within those courses provide a physical trainer at the National Training Centre who is giving them all the information and he goes on the court with them at practice.<\/p>\n

How are you working to familiarise coaches with interdisciplinary teams?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> At Coach 2 or 3, there is nutrition, sports psychology, conflict management, and leadership-based modules. Tennis Canada also has a sports science committee we use for tennis analytics and data. We give coaches a bit of a hint inside the certification, we ask them to film a match of one of their assignments; they need to film a match and then they need to tag it; \u2018tag it\u2019 means within Dartfish that they\u2019re able to find a specific situation in the match that they want to see, for example, all the points at 40-30, so then the can watch the match and see what the player\u2019s doing every time at 30-40 or any time they come to the net or any sort of specific situation they want to find. At Davis and Fed Cup level, it\u2019s much more sophisticated where they analyse every single player. At Level 2 and 3 we\u2019re just reminding them that it does exist and they have very basic assignments on the topic.<\/p>\n

How will you work with coaches to manage expectations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> We needed to demonstrate the value of our pathway. We understand that a lot of coaches want to work for Tennis Canada or they want to leader in one of the academies and we\u2019re trying to keep that motivation going by providing them with opportunities in the meantime. For example, we have one of our players who just finished NCAA get involved with Tennis Canada. We didn\u2019t give him a contract right away but we invited him on a 15-day trip with some players and a mentor, an older, National Coach, so he gets a bit of experience. It\u2019s a continuous program and we provide him with a ten-day contract and he\u2019s going to be a hitting partner at the Fed Cup. We need to keep them involved and full-time jobs will eventually come, but you need to be patient, do your work, and demonstrate that you\u2019re a good coach.<\/p>\n

What steps can you take to prevent coaches from burnout?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> With our young coaches, the first thing we tell them is a that it\u2019s always a fine line between seizing all the opportunities you have and also understanding yourself or your working hours. The more hours you\u2019re on court, the more money you\u2019ll make, but at a certain point your health is at risk. That is something in Canada we have to be careful of because most of the coaches are being paid by the hour. The trend that I\u2019m seeing is that there is more than one tennis coach involved, which wasn\u2019t the case in the past. So now we might have two tennis coaches with one player instead of being in a one-on-one situation as it was a year or two ago; and this provides the coach the opportunities to take a little bit of a step back on the travelling; so instead of working \u2013 a top player may travel 40 weeks a year \u2013 then they can split the travelling between those two coaches and I find it\u2019s a big step forward for the wellbeing of the coaches. It changes the working environment; you need to have good communication but you obviously need to be comfortable with the other coach that you\u2019re working with to make sure you\u2019re on the same page and with the same objectives.<\/p>\n

Are coaches more aware of their own wellbeing these days?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> There is definitely more of an emphasis now and I think it\u2019s the same on the players\u2019 side as well. The best coaches are able to analyse themselves on a constant basis and deep down they know if they\u2019re being too comfortable or they need to do that extra and step it up. Those are the top coaches and they\u2019re able to do that and judge on their own and analyse their work ethic. They need to be aware also of the player\u2019s plans because it will also influence your involvement as a coach.<\/p>\n

How are Tennis Canada\u2019s coach working with younger players to bridge the generation gap?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> First, the young player needs to own their project. Coaches need to work with their players on education and incorporating values. We\u2019re not just talking about a desire to win, we travel a lot and it\u2019s two on one with those players and those values of thanking people; a lot of it is education off-court and sometimes it\u2019s about life rather than the sport. These days the player is asking more questions and the coach has to explain themselves more than before. That\u2019s one thing that needs to be addressed with the coaches. We also need to do something that needs to stick: sometimes we have to get them out of their comfort zone, which I find now we do less I don\u2019t think that\u2019s so good and once in a while I think we need to push their limits. Sometimes there is so much information that it holds them back; oh, we don\u2019t want to get them injured, he needs rest; but while we\u2019re thinking about these little aspects we forgot the basics, which in the end is to compete and push your limits.<\/p>\n

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Jocelyn Robichaud was speaking for the Leaders Performance Institute Special Report on coach education and development.<\/em><\/p>\n