Over 200 Attend the TPA's 8th Annual National Conference
On February 21st and 22nd, the TPA hosted our 8th annual National Conference at the Rexall Centre in Toronto. Over 200 people witnessed various on court presentations from Brad Gilbert, Andre Parent and Sylvain Bruneau. Gilbert demonstrated a variety of drills to help coaches teach their players to become better thinkers including during the serve and return along with approaching the net. The first day concluded with a Q&A session allowing those in attendance to ask Gilbert their own specific questions.
The Wilson TPA Awards breakfast started off day two with awards being presented to Robby Ménard of Québec (Coach of the Year), Hassan Askari of British Columbia (Professional of the Year), Andy Sutton of Ontario (Course Facilitator Excellence Award), The Club at White Oaks (Facility of the Year), and Sharon Arnold of Ontario (Service to the Game Award), along with scholarships to Nick Coutts of British Columbia (Gary Caron Scholarship) and Jean-David Blanchet of Québec (Joyce and Paul Chapnick U-10 Develpoment Coaching Sholarship).
Following the awards ceremony, Sylvain Bruneau demonstrated various drills to help coaches maximize female tennis player development including the serve, the return of serve and emphasizing the forehand, while Andre Parent gave coaches his take on U-10 fitness training on court, showing new fitness testing, specific warm-ups and examples of fitness drills. The conference concluded with a Q&A session featuring Sylvain Bruneau where he answered questions about female tennis player development including psychological topics such as self-esteem and current trends in the evolution of the women’s game.