Frequently asked questions
About On The Ball Coaching
What is On The Ball Coaching?
On The Ball Coaching is a team of passionate tennis coaches who deliver coaching to schools, clubs and universities. We have been working hard to have a positive impact in tennis since 2007. We deliver coaching across Nottinghamshire.
How much do lessons cost?
Our group coaching packages start from £23.33 per month, offering 35-weeks of group coaching across the year. We help our students to enjoy the game more and support players with competitive opportunities.
What else do we offer?
We offer 1-to-1 coaching, holiday camps, schools competitions, curriculum tennis sessions and after-school tennis clubs. For more information feel free to contact us.
Before starting
How do I book?
We have full details of how to book here: how to book page
Is there a charge for a taster lesson?
No - our taster groups lessons are FREE. We want to help get students into tennis and offer this service so that you can find the right group lessons for you.
Where are we located?
We offer coaching at three locations: Woodthorpe Tennis Club, Southwell Tennis Club and David Ross Sports Village.
What do I need to bring to my lesson?
Come along in sports kit. We have rackets that we can lend you (welcome to bring your own) and all the tennis balls that you will need for your lesson. If your lesson is scheduled for an evening, we have floodlights so we can play after dark.
What happens if it rains?
We will try our best to run (we run approximately 90% of our planned lessons).
If it is very heavy rain we will send you a message to inform you that we will be rescheduling. We designed our coaching programme to be 35-weeks long so that we have spare weeks to catch up any missed lessons due to bad weather (please update us with any contact details changes via the Emergency Contact Form).
During the lesson
Do parents need to stay for the duration of their child’s lesson?
No - there is no requirement for parents to stay. You are welcome to watch if you would like. We require all students to complete the Emergency Contact Form so that we can reach you in case of bad weather or an emergency.
Is there a clubhouse?
Yes - there are clubhouses at the venues we work at. However, with the current COVID restrictions we have limited access to clubhouse facilities.
What is the content of your lessons?
Our goal is to help players improve their tennis. We believe that competition is an important ingredient in the game of tennis and we will design lessons to help players work towards competing more effectively.
How to get the most out of your lessons?
We believe there are three factors, that you control, that will positively influence your lessons.
1. Your attitude to learning, your willingness to learn and leave your comfort zone
2. Your effort, pushing to do the best you can
3. Your focus, doing more that just following instructions
If you can leave the lesson reflecting that you have scored highly in these areas, there is a very high chance that you maximised your lesson time.
After your lesson
What can I do to improve faster?
Quantity and quality are important when improving. Playing more with friends, family and in-coaching will help players to improve. You will see the biggest strides forward when combining 1-to-1 coaching, regular relevant competition, playing with friends and group coaching. We can help you to design the optimum programme, just speak to one of our coaching team to find out more.
How do I play outside of my lesson?
We encourage students to play more, outside of lessons. You are able to play with your family or friends at the venues we work at. There are different membership / booking arrangements at each venue, best to speak to your coach to find out more.
How can I get the most out of my lesson?
We encourage all players to use our self assessment & goal setting sheet to help track progress. This is a living document that will be reviewed by our coaching team. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Y8YkKFwVxyfjdlwG7dZK1WpgGRGFFfvVF3ZS5dpuMo/edit. If you have any questions about this sheet please speak to your coach.
Who do we offer coaching to?
We support players with a range of different tennis ambitions, these range from; getting fitter through tennis, learning a new skill, starting out with competitive tennis, a desire to play for club teams, a drive & commitment to play County Tennis and beyond. The higher levels of competitive tennis require higher commitment levels (e.g. training, competition and travel time).
We support students of any level with their tennis ambition.
Covid restrictions
What will happen to my Direct Debit group coaching package during this lockdown period?
We would like you to maintain your group coaching package, if you’re able to do so. We designed the coaching programme to be 35-weeks spread across the year. We are confident that we will be able to offer the full coaching programme (35-weeks) in 2020-21. The costs of all our coaching packages have been distributed across 12-months. If we don’t manage to deliver 35-weeks of coaching, we will of course arrange refunds or coaching credit, this will be calculated in August 2021.
If you have any further questions please feel free to get in touch.
What will happen to my Direct Debit 1-to-1 coaching package during this lockdown period?
We are aware that it will be more challenging for us to deliver the full 52-weeks of our weekly 1-to-1 coaching package, with these new lockdown restrictions in place. We recommend that you pause your 1-to-1 coaching package during this period and also recommend communicating with your coach to confirm your lesson times when we are able to return.
If you would like to continue with your 1-to-1 coaching package during lockdown (to keep a connection with your coach), we might be able to offer off-court coaching services such as; competition planning, video analysis, goal setting and self assessment reviews via video calls. We could also build coaching credit, enabling you to increase the volume of lessons in holiday periods and for coach support at competitions (competition preparation, match charting, match review). Feel free to contact your coach for more details on these options.
Competition
Helping students to feel more confident playing tennis competitively is a high priority for us. We have created a resource for parents and Mini Tennis players to understand the scoring + rules of the game: Understanding the rules - Mini Tennis
Fair Play
Fair Play is an essential value in tennis. We are committed to ensuring that tennis is played in a fair, open and inclusive nature.
What is On The Ball Coaching?
On The Ball Coaching is a team of passionate tennis coaches who deliver coaching to schools, clubs and universities. We have been working hard to have a positive impact in tennis since 2007. We deliver coaching across Nottinghamshire.
How much do lessons cost?
Our group coaching packages start from £23.33 per month, offering 35-weeks of group coaching across the year. We help our students to enjoy the game more and support players with competitive opportunities.
What else do we offer?
We offer 1-to-1 coaching, holiday camps, schools competitions, curriculum tennis sessions and after-school tennis clubs. For more information feel free to contact us.
Before starting
How do I book?
We have full details of how to book here: how to book page
Is there a charge for a taster lesson?
No - our taster groups lessons are FREE. We want to help get students into tennis and offer this service so that you can find the right group lessons for you.
Where are we located?
We offer coaching at three locations: Woodthorpe Tennis Club, Southwell Tennis Club and David Ross Sports Village.
What do I need to bring to my lesson?
Come along in sports kit. We have rackets that we can lend you (welcome to bring your own) and all the tennis balls that you will need for your lesson. If your lesson is scheduled for an evening, we have floodlights so we can play after dark.
What happens if it rains?
We will try our best to run (we run approximately 90% of our planned lessons).
If it is very heavy rain we will send you a message to inform you that we will be rescheduling. We designed our coaching programme to be 35-weeks long so that we have spare weeks to catch up any missed lessons due to bad weather (please update us with any contact details changes via the Emergency Contact Form).
During the lesson
Do parents need to stay for the duration of their child’s lesson?
No - there is no requirement for parents to stay. You are welcome to watch if you would like. We require all students to complete the Emergency Contact Form so that we can reach you in case of bad weather or an emergency.
Is there a clubhouse?
Yes - there are clubhouses at the venues we work at. However, with the current COVID restrictions we have limited access to clubhouse facilities.
What is the content of your lessons?
Our goal is to help players improve their tennis. We believe that competition is an important ingredient in the game of tennis and we will design lessons to help players work towards competing more effectively.
How to get the most out of your lessons?
We believe there are three factors, that you control, that will positively influence your lessons.
1. Your attitude to learning, your willingness to learn and leave your comfort zone
2. Your effort, pushing to do the best you can
3. Your focus, doing more that just following instructions
If you can leave the lesson reflecting that you have scored highly in these areas, there is a very high chance that you maximised your lesson time.
After your lesson
What can I do to improve faster?
Quantity and quality are important when improving. Playing more with friends, family and in-coaching will help players to improve. You will see the biggest strides forward when combining 1-to-1 coaching, regular relevant competition, playing with friends and group coaching. We can help you to design the optimum programme, just speak to one of our coaching team to find out more.
How do I play outside of my lesson?
We encourage students to play more, outside of lessons. You are able to play with your family or friends at the venues we work at. There are different membership / booking arrangements at each venue, best to speak to your coach to find out more.
How can I get the most out of my lesson?
We encourage all players to use our self assessment & goal setting sheet to help track progress. This is a living document that will be reviewed by our coaching team. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Y8YkKFwVxyfjdlwG7dZK1WpgGRGFFfvVF3ZS5dpuMo/edit. If you have any questions about this sheet please speak to your coach.
Who do we offer coaching to?
We support players with a range of different tennis ambitions, these range from; getting fitter through tennis, learning a new skill, starting out with competitive tennis, a desire to play for club teams, a drive & commitment to play County Tennis and beyond. The higher levels of competitive tennis require higher commitment levels (e.g. training, competition and travel time).
We support students of any level with their tennis ambition.
Covid restrictions
What will happen to my Direct Debit group coaching package during this lockdown period?
We would like you to maintain your group coaching package, if you’re able to do so. We designed the coaching programme to be 35-weeks spread across the year. We are confident that we will be able to offer the full coaching programme (35-weeks) in 2020-21. The costs of all our coaching packages have been distributed across 12-months. If we don’t manage to deliver 35-weeks of coaching, we will of course arrange refunds or coaching credit, this will be calculated in August 2021.
If you have any further questions please feel free to get in touch.
What will happen to my Direct Debit 1-to-1 coaching package during this lockdown period?
We are aware that it will be more challenging for us to deliver the full 52-weeks of our weekly 1-to-1 coaching package, with these new lockdown restrictions in place. We recommend that you pause your 1-to-1 coaching package during this period and also recommend communicating with your coach to confirm your lesson times when we are able to return.
If you would like to continue with your 1-to-1 coaching package during lockdown (to keep a connection with your coach), we might be able to offer off-court coaching services such as; competition planning, video analysis, goal setting and self assessment reviews via video calls. We could also build coaching credit, enabling you to increase the volume of lessons in holiday periods and for coach support at competitions (competition preparation, match charting, match review). Feel free to contact your coach for more details on these options.
Competition
Helping students to feel more confident playing tennis competitively is a high priority for us. We have created a resource for parents and Mini Tennis players to understand the scoring + rules of the game: Understanding the rules - Mini Tennis
Fair Play
Fair Play is an essential value in tennis. We are committed to ensuring that tennis is played in a fair, open and inclusive nature.
- Good sportsmanship, honesty and respect heather you win or lose
- Learning to challenge yourself and improve social skills
- Taking responsibility for your actions, calling scores & lines clearly & fairly
- Learning and following the rules and being role models to younger people
- Enjoyment of the sport
