Article: LTA vs PTR

If you are ever looking to become a tennis coach in the UK and do a little research on courses. Then two organisations that will keep cropping up are LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) and PTR (Professional Tennis Registry). Both these organisations offer a full coaching licence, required in order to teach in the UK, but which is better. Both have their pros and cons, I have been on both sets of courses and this is what I think....

The LTA is the leading governing body of British tennis, it is quite an old organisation based in the UK. I have always described it as “old school.” To become a coach with the LTA you must complete the first 3 levels of the 5 level coaching qualification awards. These qualifications take a long time to do. The first level is 3 days long separated over a month costing about £200; this level has to be done on a course hosted by an external company. Level 1 allows you to assist in a coaching lesson within the Mini tennis system. If this seems too basic it’s probably because it is. During the level 1 course you learn about mainly how to hold your own with children on a tennis course. This is vital information to an aspiring coach but not worth £200. Level 2 still must be done with an external company, this looks more on technique and being able to develop the ability of a player. There is however not a lot on how to spot the mistakes that they have made. But once again this is all very important information; your pupils are always going to be looking to you for answers. This course cost about £380 lasting 5 days over 2.5-3 months. Ok so now you have spent nearly £600 and unfortunately you are still not a coach and you are not trusted to coach in a club without a fully licensed coach and you are still at junior coaching level. Level 3 extremely important course looks at the science behind tennis, why things react in different ways and teaches you how to develop your players so that they can become talented. It also goes through the business side of being a tennis coach which is very useful. Level 3 is 19 days over a course of 5-6 months costing £550 and is hosted by the LTA themselves. So depending on the course dates you could become a fully licensed LTA coach within a year and it will cost you about £1030. Perfect a grand down and nearly a month of the year without pay.

PTR is a relatively new organisation compared to the LTA, set up in 1976 it is based in Hilton Head Island, USA. The difference with PTR is that in order to become a licensed coach you must complete the first level at minimum grade. The course is 5 days long over the course of 5 days and costs around £600. The course consists of 5 modules each must be passed at minimum level or result in immediate failure. The course is very intense and is around 50 – 60 hours on court. There are play tests, written exams, error detection tests, drills tests and lesson tests. I found that during this course I learnt everything I needed to know in order to pass the final exams; however when I went to teach in the real world found that everything was very different to what I had been taught in those 5 days. The grades that you can pass the course are Associate Instructor, Instructor and Professional. In order to be award a pass you must complete all modules to the minimum grade and you lowest score is taken as your final qualification. For example if you get four Professional grades and one instructor grade you will finish with an instructor grade, harsh I know but it does mean you push yourself. PTR also do a second course, PTR 2 funnily enough. PTR 2 is a chance to really build on your skills from the previous course and from what you have learnt whilst teaching in the real world. PTR 2 is about £300 and is 3 days long.

So there you go a small insight into each of these organisations. So which should you chose? Certainly the fastest and cheapest way to become a licensed coach is through PTR however the PTR course although a widely excepted governing body is seen as a lower qualification than the LTA and many regard the PTR method as “a licence that has not been earned.“ However I took PTR before the LTA qualifications and found that within 6 months of full time work that I had “earned” my qualification and that still less time than it takes to complete the LTA course. PTR doesn’t have any annual licence requirement meaning that you don’t have to keep on training to hold on to your licence. This can be viewed in two way, either good because you don’t have to go on any boring courses every year or bad because you are no longer up to scratch with the latest techniques. The LTA requires you to do at least 15 hours of training a year in order to renew your annual licence. Plus being the main governing body in the UK you are much more likely to pick up work with and LTA qualification.

So what should you do? If you are 18 or younger and looking for some summer work in between school or something part time at University. Then go with the PTR course as a quick fix qualification. With the basic qualification you can earn up to £15ph, not bad for a student. If you wish to pursue tennis coaching as a career then go with the LTA, you are much more likely to end up with a half decent position and the workshop dates tend to be at non working times beside any club will understand if you have to go away on a course as it is necessary to your qualification. Yes the LTA system costs a lot more and takes far longer, but if you think about it should your education be cheap and rushed!