As a part time professional fitness instructor, I may not be an expert in tennis, but I know how rewarding it is to be able to work in a field you love. Especially when you have a career in a field that includes some sort of athletic exercise, you will feel good doing your job physically, and therefore, mentally as well. I have some good advice for you about how to excel in the field of tennis coaching or instructing. There are a few tips to know and certain steps not to be ignored if you really want to do the very best you can possibly do. The better you are, the more people will notice.

Just as players can earn a reputation for excellence, so can instructors. The better you are, as a player as well as a teacher of the game, the more students you will attract – in addition, the more they will pay to learn from you. Or, in terms of coaching, the same applies – people serious about the sport will seek a coach who is just as serious about the sport as he or she.

Experience is (as will virtually always be the case) absolutely essential. Much of the time, an application for a job instructing and / or coaching will require a minimum of two to four years of previous experience. Unfortunately, where do you get the experience if no one will hire you because you do not have enough experience? It is, as they say, a slippery fish, this is where step one comes in.

The first thing to do is to assist a professional as a sort of apprentice or intern. Often you can be hired (at, of course, a lower wage) as a sort of student teacher or assistant tennis coach. You will usually be promoted to teach beginner’s tennis lessons – typically children’s tennis lessons.

An addendum to this suggestion is to become involved in as many tennis teaching activities and / or opportunities as possible. When the lessons become less predictable and the number of regular tennis students, take their long breaks for summer excursions, get involved in a summer intensive program. Whether you are taking extremely advanced lessons or coaching, or (better for you) if you have a chance to teach or assist in teaching – do not pass the opportunity unless you absolutely must do so. This will look great on a resume, it will show that you are serious about the sport overall.

The experience of teaching will be a lesson in tennis for you as well. An expression I have heard frequently before is: you learn by teaching. Therefore, those companies looking for tennis instructors with several years of experience are actually a very smart way to hire a high quality teaching staff. There are very many States (in which both public and institutions) will offer student-teaching positions to aspiring tennis instructors as young as sixteen years old. Of course, your talent and technique in the game of tennis will likely be a very important factor.

Many players become instructors at the very same places in which they were taught. This is often because the instructors who work in these places are already familiar with your abilities. Again, you will likely be promoted from more simple classes and beginner levels to more challenging lessons. You may be able to accelerate teach individual students, small groups and perhaps even coaching competitive teams through the potential that your superiors will observe. To learn more, see more of my articles on becoming a professional tennis instructor and / or coach.