ITF Coaches Conference includes wheelchair tennis demo

The theme of this year’s conference is “The long-term development of a high performance player.”

Over 900 coaches will attend this week’s 18th ITF Worldwide Coaches Conference by BNP Paribas in Cancun, Mexico, which started on Tuesday (5 November) and runs through the weekend. The event is being organised by the ITF and Mexican Tennis Federation and will include a wheelchair tennis demonstration by the ITF’s Suzie Dyrbus.

The demonstration will be similar to the one she gave at the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) VISTA Conference earlier this year.

The ITF Worldwide Coaches Conference, which is held every two years, is the showpiece of the ITF’s Coach Education Programme. The five-day conference will bring together leading international experts in coach education, player performance and sport science to present on the latest developments in these fields through practical on-court coaching and lecture room presentations.

The theme of this year’s conference is “The long-term development of a high performance player.”

Keynote speakers will include former US Davis Cup captains Patrick McEnroe and Tom Gullikson, British Fed Cup captain Judy Murray, US biomechanist Bruce Eliott, and legendary coaches Nick Bollettieri and Jose Higueras. There will also be a question and answer session with France’s two-time Grand Slam champion Mary Pierce and a presentation from world-renowned sports psychologist Jim Loehr.

The ITF Coach Education Programme aims to improve the number and level of coaches worldwide with a strong focus on helping National Associations to use the ITF recommended syllabi to create their own coaches education programmes and become self-sufficient in coaches education in their respective nations.