Centercourt Chatham Welcomes In Top Coaches for U.S Open Coaches Workshop

The goal of any tennis coach is to maximize the experience of their students and players, and help their clientele develop the proper skills that will help them develop. That requires a commitment to teaching but also the ability to adapt and evolve as coaches and not be opposed to learning new ways to do so.

With that in mind, the Centercourt Performance Tennis Academy relishes the role of having their team of coaches learn from not only each other, but also experts coming in from the outside. Ths past fall, Centercourt Chatham hosted the U.S. Open Coaches Conference, a day filled with a tour of the Chatham facility so external coaches can see how one of the top academies in the country operates, as well as insightful demonstrations, workshops and more from top-tennis coaches in the industry, highlighted by Simon Wheatley and Chris Lewit.

“I think it’s a great thing that under Conrad’s leadership, Centercourt embraces the idea of bringing in external consultants, and having his team learn from people who go around the world helping academies, federations, players, parents, etc.” said Wheatley. “By doing so you can gain insights from around the world and share the best practices. If you can increase the performance of his team, then the players will get better, the members will be happy and the parents will feel more fulfilled.”

That leadership comes from Centercourt Tennis Academy CEO Conrad Singh, who came to Centercourt with his own rich background in tennis coaching and development in many stops around the world, including Australia, China, Japan, Spain and more. That international approach and collaboration is an integral part of Singh’s approach at Centercourt, and is demonstrated in his desire to have his team always learning from the best.

Wheatley brought his knowledge from his extensive background as the Education Manager for the Lawn Tennis Association, the governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the author of two best-selling coaching books, and has trained more than 10,000 coaches throughout 40 different countries.

Lewit is an expert in the Spanish Training Method, which he has harnessed over countless visits to Spain over the years, and learning under some of that nation’s most famed tennis coaches and legends. He spoke at length about the different methods and philosophies of the Spanish method, and why a small European nation has produced some of the world’s best tennis players over the last few decades.

Lewit even brought some players from his academy to demonstrate different drills and ways to teach under the umbrella of the Spanish method, things that coaches can take with them and use with their own players.

In all, the event reinforced Centercourt’s commitment to educating not just their own coaches, but the tennis coaches all across the Northeast, in an effort to keep moving the sport forward.

“The injection of energy, passion and the reinvigoration of our teams ideas keeps everyone fresh,” said Singh. “We have seen that each time we bring in an outside expert, our coaches begin to exchange more ideas and are working very well together on court. They become more creative by seeing how many ideas the top experienced educators possess.”