Nigerian tennis coach and founder of ACES Tennis Academy, Abel Ubiebi participated in the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) International Symposium in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA.
The PTR, which is the largest global organization of tennis teaching professionals with more than 16,300 members in 125 countries, is dedicated to educating, certifying and serving tennis teachers and coaches around the world in order to grow the game.
Coach Ubiebi was among over 200 coaches from all over the world taking part in the self-sponsored training.
“We had people from countries like Canada, Italy, France, Egypt, Kenya, Japan, China, UK, Mexico, Spain and so on,” Ubiebi said.
The Symposium has a stellar reputation as a top coach education destination, and this time had a number of courses for coaches who participated.
“I did 3 speciality courses during the symposium. They are C+ Baseline Uncovered, System 9 and Muscle and movement. The WHY for high performance,” the coach added.
Ubiebi stated that the training has enabled him learn a lot about the game.
“Everyday, tennis teaching is evolving,” he said. “I can list [the important things I learnt] because I learnt a lot. The first is how to handle player’s state mental fitness. The second is preparing players to get to their peak and sustaining that standard. The third is progression of players path to breakthrough. The fourth is building the kids with the right method and the last but not the least is marketing of the game.”
He also wants the country’s tennis federation to put more effort in the development of junior players, as that could positively affect the very younger ones.
“The Federation should do more of grassroot programs with a lots of tournament to sustain the children’s interest,” Ubiebi said. “Identify some junior players and develop them as a project to motivate others players growing up.”
The Coach will be back to Nigeria by the first week of March.