Australians Alicia Smith and Alana Parnaby are two of 9 ladies who’ve been chosen for the WTA Coach Inclusion Program in partnership with Tennis Australia.
Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 23 October 2024 | Nadia Dimattina
Australians Alicia Smith and Alana Parnaby are two of 9 ladies who’ve been chosen for the WTA Coach Inclusion Program in partnership with Tennis Australia.
The Coach Inclusion Program is being expanded into the Asia Pacific area. This system is geared in direction of attracting, coaching, and growing ladies coaches, with the aim of breaking down limitations and offering alternatives for ladies coming into skilled tennis on the teaching stage.
“It’s a implausible alternative to have the ability to study from a number of the finest and I feel feminine coaches are extraordinarily unrepresented in our sport, in sport typically but when we’re simply taking a look at tennis – it’s an awesome probability to study from the perfect and be in that surroundings and take in as a lot info and all of the expertise that we will get,” Parnaby stated.
As each present world-ranked gamers on tour, Parnaby and Smith will likely be navigating enjoying tennis whereas becoming a member of the teaching program.
“Teaching is one thing that I’ve performed all through my profession – it’s one thing that I do actually get pleasure from and one thing I can see myself doing submit enjoying so it was an awesome alternative and the very fact I can do it while I’m enjoying is even higher,” Parnaby added.
As long-term pals and having accomplished teaching programs collectively prior to now, the ladies are excited to be again collectively once more for the WTA Coach Inclusion program.
“We’ve got a number of the identical insights and views – and we’re each hoping that after our careers that we will positively make an affect however be capable of finish our careers on our phrases and know we don’t have any regrets and have given it our all,” Smith stated.
Parnaby defined how necessary it was to have feminine coaches all through her tennis profession and hopes she might be an inspiration for future generations becoming a member of the game.
“I feel again to my early days beginning out enjoying tennis I used to be actually lucky that I so occurred to have a few feminine coaches to educate me and help me throughout my early years and I feel that was actually pivotal in me enjoying the game,” she stated.
“That’s why I’m so keen about feminine coaches in our sport as a result of I’ve had that and I actually need to give different younger ladies that have that I used to be fortunate sufficient to have.
“From native and junior teaching to Tour-level teaching it’s actually necessary that females help females, and making an attempt to get that high quality and illustration at a better stage goes to assist filter down in direction of the grassroots teaching as properly, for females to have the ability to see that being a tennis coach is viable profession path.
“As soon as it begins on the high, you see that it’ll assist construct increasingly feminine coach networks.”
Director of Participant Relations on the WTA, Jaslyn Hewitt-Shehadie, joined The Sit-Down podcast this week to speak about her profession and the success of the WTA Coach Inclusion program.
Profession pathways in tennis 🫡@JaslynHewitt has worn many hats from professional participant to high-performance coach, event director, and at present WTA Director of Participant Relations. That is her story 🎧 https://t.co/Q6r3CarVU1 pic.twitter.com/ZftL6jp1kd
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) October 21, 2024
“We’re offering nice mentorship for the coaches the place we’ll accomplice the coaches up with pro-tour coaches which can be already on the market – it’s an awesome alternative for them to construct their community,” she stated.
“This program has had some actually nice success – we’ve had 20 candidates come by way of the North American program – we’ve had two seasons of that and they’re nearly to begin their third spherical of the North American swing. We’ve got had a number of coaches which have come by way of this system and at the moment are Billie Jean King Cup captains.”
Tennis Australia Girls’s Coach Lead & Girls’s Nationwide Staff Coach Nicole Pratt is delivering this system alongside Tennis Australia’s Efficiency Coach Growth Supervisor Belinda Colaneri.
“The WTA Coach Inclusion Program has already seen exceptional success and has made a big affect on many ladies coaches. We’re thrilled to announce this system’s enlargement into Australia and Asia, and we eagerly anticipate working alongside the WTA Tour in these areas,” Pratt stated.
“Personally, I’m excited in regards to the alternative to affix as a coach mentor and contribute to the event of the subsequent technology of girls coaches on Tour. The expansion and inclusion of extra various teaching expertise will undoubtedly strengthen the game and encourage many aspiring ladies coaches.”
Members will obtain coaching at an offseason workshop, take part in digital coaching periods, and shadow WTA coaches and gamers onsite.
This system will start in October on the Hong Kong Tennis Open. For extra on the WTA Coach Program, click on right here.
2024 WTA Coach Inclusion Program individuals
Alicia Smith – Australia
Alana Parnaby – Australia
Orawan Lamangthong – Thailand
Shivika Burman – India
Sandu Gumulya – Indonesia
Shu Su – China
Jihee Lee – South Korea
Vivian Heisen – Germany
Jeanna Schmidt – South Africa
