TCA President's Report May26

The TCA board held its bi-monthly meeting with TA Director of Coaching Adam Carey on Wednesday. As an update:

NEW TA CEO - Andrew Abdo 

We understand the announcement that the new Tennis Australia CEO will be the former NRL boss Andrew Abdo may come as a surprise to many in the coaching industry. With all the surmising and recommendations there was little commentary of his name being shortlisted for the position.

The TCA's board perspective is one of 'wait and see'. We appreciate Andrew will be a ready made replacement for the CEO position with vast experience in corporate management. Our board will be advocating that he especially needs to address the grassroots situation of increasing participation and player development which most coaches deal with on a daily basis.  

TCA believes effective governance in tennis requires balanced representation of both corporate and grassroots perspectives. Executive decision-making should reflect the full ecosystem of the sport, ensuring alignment across participation, development, and performance.

SURVEY RESULTS

Thank you to everyone who completed the TCA survey recently sent to all members. The data's findings form the basis of our discussion points representing members' key concerns to TA. The three major issues have been summarized as below. 

 First coaches, overwhelmingly, wished to see the new CEO position separated into two roles. We are still in the process of establishing the outcome of the appointment and their strategic direction.

1. Coach business professional operating models - particularly hybrid models where both the club and coach share more of the different aspects of daily duties and income streams. 
2. Coaching workforce and pipeline - making a tennis coaching career an attractive vocational pathway.
3. Infrastructure investment and facility constraints

These topics may overlap e.g. a hybrid working model allows a business coach operator to run multiple income streams beyond merely coaching, such as membership, events, UTR's, pickleball, canteen etc. With more income streams, and increasing workloads, the coach operator can create a full time workforce by offering senior coaches additional work to supplement their regular coaching shift. This pivot from time poor volunteers to a professional workforce drives higher participation which in turn may elicit in Councils the need to re-invest funds back into a flourishing club. 

NEW - TCA CONSULTANCY SERVICES for club/coach grievances

The TCA is trialling a new mediation consulting service which has, unfortunately, become more prevalent with an increase in club/coach grievances. The TCA has been dealing with grievances for over 50 years. 

When dealing with a club grievances the process is as below:

Step one - Speak directly with the club representative/s who have been assigned the role of the grievance process within your club/coach service agreement. 

 Step two - Call your state member association coach representative for their advice and assistance or try the TA coach representative. 

Step three - If neither party can resolve the issues to your satisfaction then email TCA for a free first consultation. At this meeting we will ask you to explain the issue, assess your options and offer recommendations. At times having a national body mediating on your behalf is sufficient to leverage an issue in your favour. 

Step four - For all second and ongoing consultations our service fee is $250 per meeting. This fee also applies to TCA representation, either live or online, at club committees, council meetings etc. The fee covers the time and preparation in providing the service. 

PLEASE NOTE: Our advice is non binding legal advice. 

We welcome feedback and hope to hear from you soon.

Yours in tennis!
Wes Horskins
President TCA