N.S.W.T.P.A - T.C.A.N.S.W

The New South Wales Tennis Professionals Association. Written by Jack Musgrave

The History of the Tennis Coaches in N.S.W

Prior to the formation of an Association for Tennis Coaches in this State, all Coaches who had declared themselves, or had been declared by The Lawn Tennis Association to be Professional Tennis Coaches, were issued with Coaches “Ticket”

These Coaches were referred to as “ Ticketed Coaches”.

Any person who accepted remuneration of any kind for services provided to any area of the sport would be declared a professional by the Lawn Tennis Association.

It was not an easy thing to declare oneself a “Pro” because it had far reaching consequences.

One could no longer play competitive tennis in any tournament or competition organised by the Association or any affiliate of the Association, which meant that playing days were over for these people.

To make matters tougher still, any person who knowingly played with or against a Pro’ were liable also.

The Pro’ could no longer hold any official position with any association or club …..the Tennis Pro’ was virtually an outcast, one of the untouchables.

On Monday 7th August 1950 a group of “Ticketed Coaches” who had very recently completed Country Divisional Schools for the N.S.W Lawn Tennis Association were present at the White City to prepare and present reports to the Secretary.

Those present were present very impressed by the open exchange of ideas and the discussions on coaching techniques and other matters concerning their professions

Mr Victor A Edwards, who at that time conducted Sydney’s largest tennis coaching organisation, had for some time a vision of a Tennis Coaches Association, which could officially represent the coaches of N.S.W. and eventually become quite a strength in the Australian Tennis Scene.

Observing the splendid fellowship amongst those present, Victor Edwards revealed his thoughts regarding a Pro’s Association and this received unanimous support.

The next step was to seek the support and the approval of Mr Victor Kelly, Secretary of the N.S.W Lawn Tennis Association.

This support was forthcoming and Victor Kelly remained an enthusiastic supporter of the Association for many years.

On Thursday 17th August 1950 a Meeting was held at the White City to further discuss this matter and present were:-

Messrs Victor Edwards, J.O. Anderson, G.Biddle, M.Copp, H.Mellor, W.H.Waters and Mrs Mal Molesworth.

It was unanimously agreed that an Association be formed and that Victor Edwards should draw up a Constitution for discussion and approval.

All coaches holding a N.S.W Lawn Tennis Association “ticket”. :were to be issued with a copy of the Constitution and an invitation to be present at a Meeting at the White City on Wednesday the 30th of May 1951 to officially form this Association to be known as the NEW SOUTH WALES LAWN TENNIS PROFESSIONALS ASSOCIATION, and to adopt if they thought fit the proposed Constitution.

This Meeting was duly held with an attendance of twenty one coaches.

Apologies were received from six coaches.

Present were:-

J.O. ANDERSON, E. BUDRODEEN, M.COPP, J COADY, V.A EDWARDS, J GARRETT,

C.HORNE, H,FITZPATRICK, T.MOORE. H.MELLOR, E.NICHOLSON, A NEWMAN. L.PERY, R.RYAN, D.THOMPSON, W.WATERS, A.WILLARD, V.WELCH.

MRS M. MOLESWORTH, MRS E. DALTON, MISS MACKNEY

This Meeting was to establish the N.S.W Tennis Professionals Association was passed unanimously as was the motion to adopt the proposed Constitution.

The following were nominated and elected to become the initial Board of Management of the fledgling Association….

PRESIDENT …… MR J.O.ANDERSON

TREASURER .. MR VICTOR A. EDWARDS

VICE-PRESIDENTS.. MR A. WILLARD

MR H.KIRKPATRICK

MR D. THOMPSON

BOARD of MANAGEMENT MRS M.MOLESWORTH

MR W.WATERS

MR H. MELLOR

And so the Pro’s Association was up and running.

LIFE MEMBERS

1961 MR J.O ANDERSON.*

MR V.A. EDWARDS*

1963 MR L.D PERY

1965 MRS M MOLESWORTH

1971 MR M COPP.*

1972 MR N.D KIRKBY. 1972

1973 MRS J.M. MUSGRAVE *

MR J.K. MUSGRAVE *

MR G. PRYOR.

1975 MR V.W GILMOUR.

1977 MR J. PARKER.*

1983 MR D.R. FERGUSON.*

1984 MR J GREIG

MR G.J. TEAGLE

MR J. MCKENZIE

* DECEASED as of 2016

In 1952 following negotiations between the Pro's Association and the the N.S.W Lawn Tennis Association it was agreed

that all coaches qualified with the Associations would receive a "JOINT CERTIFICATE OF EFFICIENCY" which authorised the bearer to coach all standards of tennis players.

The Certificate further stated that the bearer had been examined in all facets of the game by the Joint Panels of examiners who had passed all sections.

The following year the Board of Management began discussing the possibility of issuing a certificate of qualification of our own.

At first the Lawn Association was not too keen that this Association should be permitted to issue their own certificate,

however, common sense prevailed, with the valuable support of Mr Victor Kelly the L.T.A Secretary, and in late 1953 all coaches were issued with the N.S.W. Lawn Tennis Professionals Certificate of Qualification.

The situation now was that each successful applicant received two qualifications...

1. The Joint N.S.W.L.T.A. and N.S.W.L.T.P.A. Certificate.

2. The N.S.W.L.T.P>A. Certificate.

This remained the position for some years until following the formation of the National Body

...the LAWN TENNIS PROFESSIONALS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA.... it was unanimously agreed that as all persons who were members of a State Association

were automatically Members of the National Body they should upon gaining their qualifications, receive a certificate from that authority.

Once again discussions took place between the governing bodies and before long the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia agreed that this should be a joint certificate.

Successful applicants now received three Certificates which indicated that they were Official Tennis Coaches of .....

The Lawn Tennis Association of Australia

The Lawn Tennis Professionals Association of Australia

The N.S.W. Lawn Tennis Association

The N.S.W Lawn Tennis Professionals Association.

There was no change in the procedure for some time until the formation of the Australian Coaching Council

and the rules and regulations put into place by that body.

On passing the State Examinations the coach became a Accredited Coach with the Australian Coaching Council

and received an identity card stipulating this fact.

This Accreditation has to be updated every four years.

The Coach is required to gain a specified number of points by various activities such as......

Attending Tennis Seminars.

Attending lectures in State Courses.

Writing articles for various publications.

Presenting a Paper on a number of modules prepared for this purpose.

Presenting lectures at Courses

Being a Official Examiner

Attending a Level 3 Course. etc, etc,

A coach who fails to update by the required time will forfeit his or her Accreditation with the A.C.A.

After the formation of the new Association, persons who applied to become Members were examined by a joint panel of examiners consisting of members of the N.S.W.T.P.A.

and members of the N.S.W.L.TA.

These applicants came before the Examining Panels with no training whatsoever unless they were lucky enough to be working with a Qualified Coach.

The training of coaches was not introduced until some time later. Shortly after successful applicants were issued with an "EFFICIENCY CERTIFICATE."

signed by Officers of both Associations. This was the first Joint certificate.

The first joint examination was held on 30th of June 1952.

There were four applicants. Two were successful.

This brought the Membership of the Association to exactly twenty Members.

The first move towards the training of coaches was made in 1953 when it was decided that before appearing before the Examination Panel an applicant would have to spend 25 hours either working or observing a fully qualified coach in all areas of on court work.

In 1958 the training period was increased to 100 hours and the fully qualified coach had to notify the Board the the Trainee was of

sufficiently high standard to face the Examination Panel. This became known as the "Apprenticeship System", although it was never registered as such..

Some time later the training of potential coaches was split into 3 stages. Stage 1 ... Beginner Stage.

Stage 2 ... Intermediate Stage Stage 3 The Advanced or Fully Qualified Stage.

No qualifications were issued for Stages 1 or 2 but all 3 Stages had to be passed before the applicant received Qualifications.

A further addition to the examining procedure was the introduction of a post examination seminar for those who had failed to pass the examination by a margin of 5 marks or less.

The applicants involved were required to attend a lecture by a Member of the Panel based on the area in which they had failed.

At the conclusion of this the lecturer would present a report to the Panel who would decide whether or not the applicant was

now worthy of a pass.

In the early 1970's the Panel of Examiners expressed in a report to the Board that there were a great number of Trainees appearing before

the Panel who had obviously received very little training and in some cases formal training had been non existent.

After investigations the Board decided that the trainees should still remain in a training situation with a training coach

but the Board would play a greater part in the training area by introducing a course of lectures for each stage of training.

These lectures were to cover both the practical on court work and theory lectures on subjects such as ..... Psychology, Physiology, Laws

and Rules, Tournament Procedures and Draws, First Aid and many other allied subjects.

At the same time a written examination was included in the schedule.

After the formation the Australian Coaching Council the Pro's Association adopted the National Coaches Accreditation Scheme and modified their courses to a system whereby

2 levels of coaching replaced the 3 stages previously held.. Level 1 was again the beginner level and Level 2 became the qualification level which replaced the previous Stage 2 and Stage 3..

This took place in 1981.

At the same time the A.C.C. introduced a Level 3 which was a completely new innovation and was classified as that of a "ELITE COACH"

The course for Level 3 included a 10 day seminar at the Australian institute of Sport in Canberra. Participants were required to work on court with high profile pupils and attend a series of indoor lectures

by presenters recognised as the best in their particular field in this Country.

The Course was extremely tough and the examinations very demanding.

The attendance of observers at these Courses was encouraged and many coaches availed themselves

of the opportunity to upgrade their expertise and coaching techniques by attending in this capacity.

It has been a top priority of the Association since its inception to provide the tennis playing and paying public with the highest standard of coaches it has been possible to provide.

In 1989 it was agreed by the Board that there were huge areas of our State that were not serviced by a resident Pro Coach.

A great number of these areas did not even have a visiting coach and it was decided to do something about this sad state of affairs.

Contact was established with tennis officials in many of these isolated towns, and where there were no tennis officials it was found that

the best contact turned out to be the owner of the local pub.

After having the concept explained to these good people the response was most encouraging

and arrangements were commenced to have the project launched the following year.

A fully qualified coach accompanied by a trainee was to be sent to each participating town,

charges were to be kept to the absolute minimum, trophies and the Association Certificate would be issued and the coaches

would be expected to report on any outstanding talent the may observe during the camps.

The first of the Holiday Tennis Camps was held in July 1990 and before long the following towns had had the benefit of expert coaching for their juniors.

ARDLETHAN DENILIQUIN NYGAN

BARELLAN DARLINGTON POINT MURRUMBURRAH

BERMAGUI FINLEY NARROMINE

BOOROWA GULGONG PARKES

BERRIDALE GRIFFITH PALLAMALLAWA

BINALONG HARDEN QUAMBONE

COOLAH HILLSTON TRANGIE

COLEAMBALLY HOWLONG TRUNDLE

CONDOBOLIN KHANKOBAN WALGETT

COROWA LAKE CARGELLIO WEE WAA

CARINDA LIGHTNING RIDGE WEST WYALONG

CASSILIS MUNGINDI

So popular was the concept that many of the coaches were asked to return in the evenings to conduct classes

for the adults of the town who had been deprived of tennis lessons for many years.

In 1967 the Nestle Company decided to discontinue the Milo Junior Tennis Tournament which had been part of the yearly programme for some years.

When this decision was announced the Board of the Tennis Professionals Association saw the opportunity of commencing their own tournament.

It was decided to proceed with this tournament to be known as ...

THE LITTLE MASTERS TOURNAMENT.

The concept was that the qualified coach would enter his or her own tournament in the age groups of under 11, 13, 15, and 17, for

both boys and girls.

The winners of these coaches tournaments would then be entered in the Association tournament,

which virtually became the finals of the coaches tournament. From the beginning it was obvious that this was going to involve

thousands of children form the grass root player right up to the best in the State.

The support of the coaches was the most encouraging and the first years event proved to be successful beyond the expectations of all involved

The tournament grew each year with larger entries and became arguably the biggest junior tennis tournament in the world.

Many of Australia's past and present champions have come through the ranks of the Little Masters Tournament

From the very beginning sponsorship has been a necessity and the first sponsors were Shelleys Soft Drinks, Slazenger, and Dunlop

Other major sponsors over the years have been Nestle Milo, Coca Cola and more recently Tower Life Insurance.

As the tournament flourished other States became interested and before long each state had it's own Little Masters.

The natural outcome of this very successful project was that the T.P.A.A. would institute a National Little Masters Tournament and this was done in 1973. The first National

Little Masters was held in Melbourne.

The concept of this Tournament was that the finalists in all States became eligible to be entered in the Nationals which was to be held in a different State each year.

The next move was that N.S.W arranged with New Zealand to have a competition each year with the winners of the state finals to play against a New Zealand team in the same age groups.

Each Country would host the matches in alternate years.

The T.P.A.A. commenced sending the winners of the Nationals overseas too and teams were sent to many countries with some excellent results.

These tours were discontinued when there became so many official tours that players of the required quality were very seldom available.

One major development in the Tournament was to transfer to the Hordern Pavilion. This proved to be a great success because Channel 10 agreed to televise the finals.

So not only did we have a very large audience of school children present at the courts we also had a television audience.

The format of the Tournament changed in a number of ways over the years, perhaps the most significant change being the separation

of players with a tally of points from touramnet play form those who were just commencing their entry into tournament play.

The Little Masters Tournament has been a magnificent vehicle for the young tennis players in this Country. It has provided

the beginner player with, quite often, the opportunity to play in his or her first tournament against players of their own standard.

It has given the coaches the chance to conduct their own tournaments in the specified age groups with the

incentive that the winners will go on to play in the State finals and if successful there eventually the National Finals.

It also provides the players with the possibility of being part of a overseas touring team under the Pro's Association

banner.

In recent year the National Little Masters Finals have been televised on the A.B.C.

The Little Masters Tournament continues to flourish.

Office Bearers

Overview - Timeline of Events

1951/11 First meeting White City Club. NSWTPA - Association created

1953 Tennis Coach Code of Ethics produced

1956 TCA V - Professional Tennis Association Victoria was founded

1956 Association Badge designed by George Hugo

1958 Play More Tennis Committee established

1959 Association Blazer created through Mick Simmons retailer

1959 First Tennis Coaching manual produced

1960 The Lawn Tennis Professionals Association of Australia L.T.P.A.A formed. Head Office Sydney

1962 Tennis Video review of players to develop models of stroke play.

1963 Protest and Appeals Committee formed

1966 Association written Code of Ethics approved

1968 Little Masters Tournament created in White City

1968 Open Tennis review - Professional vs Amateur status

1970 Radio 2KY - Tiger Black Sports Show - a weekly promotion of tennis generally.

1971 Mobile Tennis Coaching supported by the Rothmans Foundation

1973 Royal Easter Show - promotion Stand

1973/10 First National Little Masters Tournament - Vic Assoc for LTPAA

1973 First standards Training Course Committee - W.W Gilmore, J.Musgrave, J.Parker, P.Musgrave

1974 NSWTA Council - attendance acceptance

1974 All trainee coaches should pass the Umpires Exam before becoming a Qualified Coach

1975 Tennis Coaching Clinic at White City prior to the NSW Championships

1975 Little Masters - Finals at the Hordern Pavilion. televised Channel 10

1976 LTPAA - President Bill Gilmore Secretary Jack Musgrave

1977 Lawn deleted from Title - TPAA

1978 TPAA NSW affiliated with NSWTA

1978 Coca Cola Sponsors Little Masters Tournament

1979 NSWTA allows Board position - Bill Gilmore as rep

1979 35 page Document presented to Federal Government - Associations Training Program for Tennis Coaches

1980 Slazenger Tennis Balls - branded tennis balls for the Association

1980 Lecturers and examiners now paid - previous volunteer

1980 Yellow Pages takes out block advert for Qualified Coaches

1981 Australian Sports Forum - Association delegate attended

1981 Tennis Coaches Seminar - Tangalooma Resort Queensland

1981 Australian Coaching Council - standardised course procedures for all sports. Levels 1,2 and 3 adopted.

1982 Trainee Coaches must attend Divisional schools as part of their Traineeship.

1983 Joint Certificate created - TPAA and TA presented to all coaches through out Australia.

1983 Association incorporated into a Company

1983 ACT Association approved by TPAA

1984 Trainee Log Book introduced

1985 Half page Advert in the Daily Mirror for Professional Coaches

1985 NSW TPA now incorporated

1986 Festival of Sydney Tennis Display in the Domain

1986 Video Library commenced for lectures and seminars

1986 First Level 3 Course held at the AIS Canberra

1987 First Level O Course conducted in Sydney

1989 Holiday Tennis Camps created to assist country areas

1989 Technical Committee created to standardise training course in all states

1989 Marrickville is NSW Office opened

1990 Display Tent at NSW Championships

1990 Gold Card suggested for all qualified coaches

1991 Change name to Tennis Professionals Association NSW Branch

1991 TPA Education committee

1992 Darling Harbour - Tennis Display

1992 ACE Tennis introduction Andrew Hill Video

1993 Roche Racket resort Best Seminar

1993 NT TCA endorsed

1993 National Grading System - Different models to have one system for all grades - Andrew Hill Model

1994 Coach of the Year established - Brett Seagrott Nominated

1994 Fan Fest introduced at White City

1994 National Tennis Seminar - Melbourne 350 attended

1995 Appointment of General Manager - Greame Wardrop

2009 Merged with TA on 1^st January

2012 TCA NSW wound up