ETC Coaches Come Together for Annual Training Session

September 22nd, 2026

On September 6, Edmonton Tennis Community (ETC) hosted its annual Coaches Training Session at the Saville Community Sports Centre. The day brought together new coaches and volunteers alongside long-time ETC members with the goal of developing stronger coaching skills in a supportive learning environment.

This year's session was led by Ryan Schroffle and Kristina Sanjevic from the Royal Glenora Club, who generously volunteered their time to work with ETC's coaches. Ryan is a Tennis Canada Coach 3 and Tennis Alberta Provincial Coach who has coached at more than 15 Junior Nationals, Western Canadas, and Canada Summer Games. Kristina is Tennis Canada Coach 2 certified and the former captain of the University of Alberta Pandas varsity tennis team. Between them, they brought decades of recreational and high performance coaching experience to share with the ETC team.

The training session consisted of a 1.5 hour classroom portion followed by a 1.5 hour on court session, giving coaches the chance to learn new concepts and then put them straight into practice. In the classroom, discussion focused on how coaches can turn a child who was signed up for tennis by their parents into one who is genuinely passionate about the sport. Coaches play a pivotal role in that shift. Research shows that 70% of youth drop out of organized sport altogether by age 13, yet 22% of youth view their coach as one of their primary role models. That is exactly why the environment a coach creates matters so much. When kids feel welcomed and supported, they are far more likely to stick with the sport.

On the court, coaches broke into small groups and were given a scenario to plan a drill around. Each group nominated a lead, then swapped with another group to run the plan they had just built. Coaches paused throughout the session for discussion and then regrouped to work out a progression or next step for each drill. What made the exercise so valuable was the opportunity to receive feedback from peers and senior coaches and immediately improve on that in a lower-stakes environment.

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Many of the coaches and volunteers who join ETC are young, and while this training helps develop their on court coaching abilities, it also builds communication skills, adaptability, and the confidence to lead a group voice, qualities that will serve them well far beyond tennis

"What stuck with me the most from this course is how much there still is to learn, no matter how long you have been coaching. The kids we coach are impressionable, and sometimes vulnerable, and a single practice can be the thing that makes a child smile that day, or the thing that changes the direction of their life. That is not something to take lightly, and we were lucky to learn from coaches as distinguished as Ryan and Kristina."

-            Emma Rutherford, ETC Coach

Sessions like this one are what keep that community strong. ETC's coaches left the day better prepared, more connected to one another, and ready for another season of helping kids fall in love with tennis!