15 Nov Tennis Ireland Strikes Gold Again
On Friday 12th November the President of Tennis Ireland received a confirmation letter from the International Tennis Federation’s Executive Director of Tennis Development stating that, based on the evidence submitted by our National Governing Body, the ITF were formally recognising the Coaches Education system of Tennis Ireland at Gold Level for another four-year period up to the 31st December 2025.
This is the third term that Tennis Ireland has been on the receiving end of this prestigious award for Coaches Education.
The ITF recognition is based on criteria and standards set for coach education that were agreed by the ITF Task Force on Coach Education and subsequently endorsed by the ITF Coaches’ Commission and the ITF Board of Directors.
To achieve the recognition, Nations must provide the ITF with the following –
Evidence that the NGB has a Coaches Education Director in place, a Coach Education Administrator in place, a team of Coach Developers and Assessors, a Coaches association, a Database of Coaches, a Coaches’ Education Syllabus for each Level linked to the NGB’s long Term Player Development Pathway, a Coach Licensing Scheme in place, a CPD Programme in place, a Library of Coach Education resources for all courses. And finally, Tennis Ireland need to be in good standing with the World Governing Body of Tennis (ITF) and with the Governmental Department of Sport (Sport Ireland Coaching)
Subsequently, an ITF Assessor pays a 2-day visit to the nation concerned where their Director of Coach Education presents the system they have in place and shows the assessor all the resources and learning tools used in their programme (conducted virtually this time round).
There are four levels of recognition involving White, Bronze, Silver & Gold.
Tennis Ireland has been awarded the Gold Level and is one of 17 Nations to receive this level.
The chart below shows the tennis nations that have been recognized by the ITF at the four Levels:
| White | Bronze | Silver | Gold |
| Bhutan
Botswana Chile Ecuador Kazakhstan Tunisia Uruguay Yemen |
Belarus
Bolivia Bulgaria Croatia Cuba Cyprus Egypt Hong Kong Indonesia Kenya Korea, Republic. Lithuania Malaysia North Macedonia Pakistan Peru Russia Singapore Sri Lanka Tahiti Trinidad & Tobago Venezuela |
Argentina
India New Zealand Poland Slovakia South Africa Sweden |
Australia
Austria Belgium Brazil Canada Colombia Finland France Germany Great Britain Ireland Italy Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Switzerland |
IS YOUR TENNIS COACH LICENSED?
By signing up to and displaying the Tennis Ireland Safeguarding Statement and by completing the Safeguarding Self-Assessment, stakeholders have demonstrated their commitment to safeguarding all their members and through working under the guidance of the National Governing Bodies safeguarding policies and procedures, volunteers, employees and contractors should seek to create a safe, enjoyable, positive, equitable, welcoming and encouraging atmosphere for all involved.
Part of Tennis Ireland’s recruitment policy and the Safeguarding Club Self-Assessment states that all Coaches should be Licensed.
All individuals or organisations that employ or contract coaches (Clubs, schools, individual players, parents) should employ only licensed coaches.
This policy is supported by Tennis Coach Ireland (TCI).
To review the criteria for the Coach Licensing Scheme, check out the following link –
https://www.tennisireland.ie/coaches/coaches-licensing/