What is the PTCA Academy?
Launched in 2011 in Paris during the French Open the PTCA has for the first time introduced quality standards for accessing the profession of a professional tennis coach. More than fourteen years into its existence, PTCA is now ready to launch the second stage of its accreditation program which allows members to gain recognition and be licensed for specialized skills and competences in several disciplines and areas of competence.
For this purpose the PTCA has established the PTCA Academy Accreditation and License Program.
Taking part in the PTCA Academy accreditation and licensing Process is a voluntary decision made by each member and institution. It offers members and affiliated institutions a platform for developing their skills and competences in their pursuit of excellence and makes these efforts and skills internationally recognized.
Objectives
The PTCA Academy Accreditation Program does not aim to harmonize national educational systems but rather to provide tools to connect and mutually recognize them. The intention is to allow the diversity of national and private systems to be maintained, specialized and improved. PTCA Academy works towards the improvement of transparency between different education systems to facilitate mutual recognition of professional qualifications and to encourage professional exchanges at international level.
Accreditation - your professional acceptance
Accreditation provided by PTCA Academy offers you a great deal of opportunities and is much more than a “nice-to-have.” As a board-accredited coach, you’ll enjoy three distinct advantages over non-accredited coaches:
- fewer hassles when applying for employment
- an international recognition for your expertise
- an opportunity to tap into the tools and resources provided by the PTCA Academy Accreditation Board (PAAB).
- direct pathway to the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players´ Association) approved Pro Tour License
Recognizing Expertise and Excellence
Verifying board accreditation is in the focus of academies, sponsors, tennis coaches’ organizations and even by large employers not traditionally associated with tennis coaches. All those stakeholders show an increasing interest in trusted accreditation programs as a marker of quality of tennis coaches’ delivery.
Accreditation by the PAAB is aimed at being the highest standard in international tennis coaching (general accreditatio, specialist or limited accreditation). By pursuing board accreditation, you elevate yourself into the ranks of coaches committed to maintaining the highest possible international standards for tennis coaches. PTCA Academy believes higher standards for the coach profession means better coaching for athletes. Therefore the PTCA Academy Accreditation Board (PAACB) grants:
- one basic professional registration
- two general basic accreditation (Professional and Master Professional) levels reflecting the membership accreditation levels of the PTCA Academy and
- two professional specialty accreditations (POST ACCREDITATION SPECIALIST PROGRAM – PASP: Pro Tour Coaching; Children and Adoloscent Development) for professionals (tennis coaches, physios, atheltic trainers and psychologists).
Accreditation demonstrates a coach’s exceptional expertise generally (corresponding to the base accreditation and registration status at the PTCA) which can be complemented by a particular specialty and/or subspecialty of coaching practice.
The specialty accreditation signals a board accredited professional’s commitment and expertise in consistently achieving superior clinical outcomes in a responsive, player-focused setting. Players, coaches, academies, sponsors, national and international organizations should be able to look at the PTPA approved PTCA POST ACCREDITATION SPECIALIST PROGRAM (PASP) as the best measure of a coach’s knowledge, experience and skills to provide quality coaching within a given specialty.
The License Process
The Post-Accreditation Specialist Program of the PTCA Academy is based on five requirements:
Part I — Professional Standing
Candidates for the PASP must hold a valid PTCA accreditation from the PTCA Academy.
Part II—Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment
Candidates must participate in educational and self-assessment programs that meet specialty-specific standards that are set by PAAB.
Part III—Cognitive Expertise
Candidates must demonstrate, through formalized results, activity or examination, that they have the fundamental, practice-related and practice environment-related knowledge to provide quality coaching in their specialty.
Part IV—Practice Performance Assessment
Candidates are then evaluated in their clinical practice according to specialty-specific standards for coaching. They are asked to demonstrate that they can assess the quality of coaching they provide compared to international benchmarks and personal performance and improvement programs verified in follow-up assessments.
Part V-Teamwork ability
PASP candidates need to show ability for and experience in teamwork and network building. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.