What Generation Z Wants in a Tennis Coach

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If you’re a parent, coach, or program director who loved tennis as a kid, it’s only normal to want to pass that passion and its many benefits on to the next generation. Not only is playing tennis good for kids’ physical health, but it also instills important values, such as confidence, responsibility, and discipline, that will serve players well throughout the rest of their life.

Those benefits are timeless and available to every generation, but if you want to share them with Generation Z, it’s important to recognize how some key things have changed since you were a kid in a junior program. Born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, today’s youth have been shaped by technology and social media, and it shows in their expectations on the courts. Read on to learn what Generation Z wants in a tennis coach, and how you can ensure your player’s training experience fosters a lifelong love for the sport.

The Study: The Preferred Coaching Styles of Generation Z Athletes

Have you ever worked for a boss with poor leadership skills? Maybe they micromanaged you, failed to communicate their expectations, or never showed appreciation for all your hard work. If so, you know how quickly a bad leader can turn what you thought was your dream job into a nightmare.

In the same way, a bad tennis coach can quickly spoil the sport of tennis for a player who used to love the game.When a coach doesn’t know how to connect with and lead their players, an athlete’s full potential on the court will never be realized. Even worse, a player can begin to dread practice or simply decide to quit altogether.  

But what makes a “good coach”—especially for Generation Z? Researchers at Georgia Southern University set out to answer that question, then published their findings in the Journal of Coaching Education in 2012. Although the study focuses on interviews with soccer players, the four trends that emerged still give us valuable insight into what tennis players need to thrive on the courts.

Gen Z players reported that they prefer a coach who:

1. Doesn’t yell and remains calm,
2. Is caring and encouraging,
3. Has knowledge of the sport, and
4. Involves the team in decision making.

To help you turn those findings into practical coaching applications, we’ve compiled four Generation Z coaching tips to help you keep the next generation on the courts and your program roster.

Coaching Tennis to Gen Z Tip #1: There’s a right and wrong way to give feedback.

Generation Z players were clear that they want a coach who doesn’t yell and remains calm—and who could blame them? No one likes being berated for their mistakes. But that doesn’t mean you have to withhold all opinions either. After all, players need your expertise if they’re going to improve and grow as a player. That’s why it’s important to remember that there’s a right and wrong way to give feedback.

This is one of the reasons we included Practice Evals as a feature in the Tennis Locker app. Use them to record your thoughts on the court during practice or a match without shouting in anger or exasperation. Gen Z has grown up with the internet, so it’s where they’re most comfortable communicating anyway. If players do ask you about their Eval later, you’ll likely be calmer and more prepared to give constructive criticism in a way that builds them up rather than tears them down.

Coaching Tennis to Gen Z Tip #2: They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care…

Gen Z players told researchers that they wanted a coach who is caring and encouraging. Just as the old adage tells us, they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Players often view great coaches as mentors and role models, and they want to know you care about more than their win/loss record. When coaching Gen Z, look for opportunities not only during practice but also outside of it to communicate that you care for your players as athletes and as people.

If your academy uses the Tennis Locker app, try using the File Sharing feature to send photos, videos, and articles you find online that you know your player will like. It could be an interview with their favorite player, tips on improving their backhand, or a link to a tourney you’d like to see them play. Take a few extra seconds to add a note explaining why you thought they’d enjoy the file, and players will really appreciate the personal touch.

Coaching Tennis to Gen Z Tip #3: …But they also care how much you know!

While Gen Z tennis players want a coach they can like, they also want a coach they can respect. Sure, playing tennis is fun, but it’s even more fun when you’re winning! And players know they can’t excel as athletes if their coaches are inexperienced or don’t really understand the sport.

With Generation Z, you can’t just tell them you know what you’re doing and expect them to trust you. Instead, you have to earn their trust by showing results. Tennis Locker coaches use analytics to do exactly that. When a player can see a clear-cut graph that shows their fitness test scores or H2H records improving over time, they’ll know they can trust you to continue strengthening their performance. Tennis Locker automatically tracks those performance trends so that it’s easier than ever to demonstrate your expertise and prove you know how to take your players from good to great.

Coaching Tennis to Gen Z Tip# 4: Invite players to be a part of decision making.

For Generation Z, respect is a two-way street. Not only do they want a coach they can respect, but they also want a coach who respects them and invites them to be a part of decision making. While it’s true that you’re the coach and the coach usually knows best, players won’t grow if they’re never given the opportunity to make decisions—even if that also means making mistakes along the way.

That’s one reason we’ve made our app completely free for athletes whose coaches use Tennis Locker. We put the same analytics of performance trends that you see in their hands so that they can practice critical thinking skills, learn to look for weaknesses in their own game, and work on goals you assign outside of practice.  

We also included a Player Calendar to allow players to easily communicate their personal plans, individual training sessions, and tourney schedules with their coach. By granting players some autonomy and empowering them to use it wisely, you build rapport and inspire trust so that they’re more likely to listen when it’s time for you to make the final call.

The Key to Coaching Tennis to Generation Z

Older generations are often tempted to think of Gen Z as isolated kids who prefer staring at screens to connecting with adults—but that’s not a totally fair or accurate assessment. The next generation of tennis players still value a strong relationship with a coach they both like and respect, and a perceptive coach will use technology as a tool rather than a hindrance in connecting with and developing their athletes.

If you’re not sure where to start in connecting with players who seem more inclined to stare at their phones than appreciate your coaching, we can help. Click here to learn more about coaching Generation Z with Tennis Locker.