Written by: Louis Borfiga
Louis Borfiga has been Tennis Canada’s Vice President of High Performance & Athlete Development for more than 14 years. Before that he was at the French Tennis Federation and worked with players such as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut during their formative years.
A Good Coach? Many are asking this question, each with their own opinion, their own truth. In reality, it is difficult to answer with certainty, as the evaluation method can vary from one person to another. However, when you think about it, when you look at the references in the field of coaching in various sports, there are certain common and fundamental elements that I will describe to you here…
Read article: A Good Coach? (English)
Read article: A Good Coach? (French)
4 Responses
Although a very good article on what makes a coach a great coach, I think you need to think about how many female coaches are presented in this newsletter alone.
It is still a very male dominated profession and a very tough one to get opportunities for female coaches.
Knowing that it’s very tough to keep girls in sport, it makes so much sense for girls to see females coaching and for them to have role models they can identify with.
Eva thank you so much. This is a question that is often raised on the political scene. Unfortunately the demands of a true high performance coach lend themselves better to people with the ability to completely commit to their craft. Having said that, my personal experience over the last 50 years, show that female coaches as passionate and knowledgeable as their male counterparts are seldom willing to disregard their personal dreams and needs, which are more family oriented [thank god].
I have seen so many great Canadian female coaches Wendy Pattenden, Andrea Rabzack, Deborah Kirkwood, Christine Picher, Severine Tamborero, Leigh Bradwell, Katy Shuleava, Andree Martin, Marjory Blackwood, Karen Kettnacker, a wonderful lady in Edmonton whose name escapes me, a handful of great coaches in the private sector especially in Ontario, but high performance requires in most cases a commitment which is not the choice of balanced individuals. I know what I am saying but it’s true. Women are as good as men but are more practical in finding the meaning of life. Thank god for women.
An old coach for 57 years, and 100% believer in the power of women.
Pierre
Hi Eva,
We (ONcourt), agree that it’s always important to have equal representation and that it is our obligation to help achieve that. We are really lucky to know the women coaches that we do and are doing are best to feature them on ONcourt! For instance, Patricia Hy-Boulais who has created weekly webinars for coaches and players.
If there is anyone you would like us to feature, please send us an email at: info@acetennis.ca!
Thank you for reading.
I apologize, I misunderstood the first comment which I thought was aimed at Louis’ article and the picture below. Eva is completely correct. I suggest that the editorial board of OnCourt undertakes to feature more women coaches: there are few relatively but many good ones. Great that you have solicited them in the response above