USTA Launches Youth Coaching Initiative
March 22, 2011
Stanford, CA — United States Tennis Association (USTA) has entered into a national partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) to provide PCA’s Double-Goal Coach® training for more than 2,000 USTA youth tennis instructors.
“The United States Tennis Association is very pleased to partner with Positive Coaching Alliance for the online coaching course, Double-Goal Coach I: Coaching for Winning and Life Lessons,” said Kirk Anderson, USTA Director, Recreational Coaches and Programs. “This course will fit perfectly with our on-court tennis-specific workshops. These two opportunities will equip our USTA Jr. Team Tennis coaches, and all instructors working with children in parks, camps and clubs, with the tools and information to make them better coaches so they can provide a positive, meaningful and fun experience for all children participating on their teams.”
PCA-trained Double-Goal Coaches have winning as their first goal, while pursuing the second, more-important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. PCA’s research-based Double-Goal Coach model entails:
“PCA looks forward to working with USTA in an effort to help youth across the country enjoy the great game of tennis,” said David Shapiro, Director of Business Development for PCA, a national non-profit committed to making sports a positive, character-building experience for all youth and high school athletes. “We are grateful that USTA is making it a high priority to provide youth tennis coaches with the tools necessary to have a positive impact on their youth athletes.”
Dick Gould — 17-time NCAA Champion tennis coach at Stanford University and a member of PCA’s National Advisory Board — hailed the USTA/PCA partnership. “This is a big coup for USTA and for PCA. Double-Goal Coach training will help USTA coaches and parents get the most out of their young players and children, while helping those players get the most out of tennis, both on and off the court. PCA’s focus on coach-parent relationships also will be immensely helpful to our sport.”
About Positive Coaching Alliance
PCA and its methods have gained great support — such as appearances in PCA’s online courses — from a National Advisory Board that includes:
PCA has conducted roughly 9,000 live group workshops nationwide for more than 475,000 youth and high school sports leaders, coaches and parents. PCA’s partnership network includes more than 1,700 youth sports organizations, cities and schools. In 2011, PCA will conduct roughly 1,300 live, group workshops across the U.S., while assisting tens of thousands of other individuals via online workshops at PositiveCoach.org.