Jelena Jankovic receives advice from coach Ricardo Sanchez.
How to ...
coach female players F
emale athletes all have the same quality – like boys, they love competing. But there is an emotional side that needs to be considered to get the best out of females. Coaches need to take into consideration the way they speak to females and Belinda Colaneri, coach of Australian rising juniors Molly Polak and Sandy Vo, is well aware of the importance of communication. “You need to be very particular about the way you speak to girls and the way you deal with certain issues with them. You just have
to be a lot more sensitive,” she says. “You also need to spend a bit more time making them feel comfortable in their learning environment.” Melbourne’s National Academy female coach Mark Hlawaty also considers communication to be one of the most important factors. “The way you relay information to females is obviously different to the way you would do it with a guy,” he says. “Your communication should be positive, so when they do take that on board
they take it as a good thing, compared to it being in a negative way where you don’t make the athlete feel as good.” Taking things to heart is more prone to female athletes and AIS Pro Tour Program women’s coach Chris Johnstone says that the emotional side of girls is one main aspect coaches need to deal with. “Girls do tend to be a little more emotional,” he says. “This can affect their game because tennis under pressure becomes quite emotional.” However, there is not a lot of difference Australian Tennis Magazine | January 2010
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MyCoach
There are a number of ways to develop players, but what’s the best way to coach a female athlete? Daniela Toleski gets some insight from leading Australian coaches.