Tennis Squads and Performance Coordinator
Introducing Damien Roberts.
Just a short note to inform the Shaw Park Tennis parents and players of some exciting changes to our tennis squad and development programs. In an effort to develop Queensland’s best junior tennis players we are fortunate to introduce a new role across all of our tennis squads and tennis centre’s. The Performance Coordinator is a position that will work with all of our Development and Performance Tennis squads.
The role of the Performance Coordinator will be:
- improve the quality and structure of our tennis squad sessions
- develop players to be in the top 10 in Queensland for their age groups
- create a periodized program of training for players depending on individual level and goals
- link the physical training sessions to our coaching sessions
- assist and support our coaches with their lessons for performance players
- communicate regularly with parents, coaches and players
- implement a Tournament Assistance Program to players playing tournaments (three tournaments per term)
- organise 4 x school holiday Tournament Tours per year
Damien has a world class tennis resume and has worked with the best junior and professional players in England for the past 10 years. His role for the British Tennis Association (known as the LTA) has encompassed a wide range of roles including coach, physical trainer and massage therapist. He has worked with Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams and was Great Britain’s National Women’s Coach from 2007 – 2009.
For more info, I have included some of Damien’s roles and tennis achievements below in blue.
Damian Roberts – Playing Background
- Competed professionally on the ATP Tour from 1997-2002 with an ATP career high ranking of 270 (singles) and 150 (doubles).
- Selected for the South African Davis Cup Squad v Great Britain Tie in 1999
- Ranked number 1 South African Tennis Junior U12-U18
- Junior Wimbledon Doubles Finalist 1996.
Lawn Tennis Association
National Tennis Centre Women’s Base Coach August 2009 – October 2013
The role was responsible for leading the day to day tennis programme for all Performance Women Tennis players based at the National Tennis Centre (NTC). This included a player base of 10-15 players and 6 coaches, as well as involved planning and communication with the ‘Player Support Team’ which included Strength and Conditioning Coaches, Physiotherapists, Nutritionists, Psychologists and Massage Therapists.
More specifically the role delivers a number of objectives including the following:
- Organise and manage the weekly performance programme for all female junior and senior players and coaches, including daily practise schedule, coach and court allocations, planning of tennis sessions, sport science requirements, player accommodation and ensuring effective operation of daily programme.
- Manage Operational organisation with catering staff, ground staff, accommodation requests and maintenance staff.
- Coach and plan sessions on court for several levels of ability, ranging from 14 year olds through to professional WTA players.
- Advise coaches on how to get the most out of their players’ programmes both on and off court.
- Travel to International Junior ITF and WTA tennis events with players when required.
- Work closely and communicate effectively with Player Support Team (Strength and Conditioning, Physiotherapy, Nutritionist, Psychology and Massage Therapist) to help improve overall standard of British Women’s Tennis.
Lawn Tennis Association
Great Britain National Women’s Coach. 2007 –2009
The role was responsible for individual performance coaching with selected High Performance players on the WTA Challenger Tour with the aim to improve their World ranking. More specifically the role involved:
- Coaching on court with clear goals and ranking objectives
- Travelling for 30 weeks per year to WTA and ITF tournaments worldwide
- Devise and plan a periodised annual playing schedule
- Communicate and work closely with the player support team
- Perform Sports Massage on players
Lawn Tennis Association
Great Britain Assistant Fed Cup Coach and Massage Therapist. 2007 –2011
This was combined in my role above and involved travelling to the Fed Cup competition with the Great Britain team each year for the event as well as monitoring progress of the Fed Cup players throughout the year both at tournaments worldwide and whilst training at the NTC. My responsibilities were to:
- Ensured Fed Cup Team was in peak condition to compete each year at the Fed Cup Play-offs.
- Assist the Captain on and off court in a coaching capacity and provide input for team selection for each match.
- Coordinated all team logistics during the week including transport, practise bookings, restrings, restaurant bookings and external issues relating to the players and team support staff.
- Applying Sports Massage to the players daily.
- Included 5 Euro Africa Ties in Bulgaria (07), Hungary (08), Estonia (09), Portugal (10), Israel (11)
Lawn Tennis Association
Strength and Conditioning Coach and Massage Therapist. 2004 –2007
The role was responsible for assisting in the Strength and Conditioning programme for all Performance Tennis players based at the LTA (Queens Club). This included a player base of 25 players. My main aim was to ensure all players were in peak physical condition to perform year round at both Junior and Professional Tennis tournaments. More specifically the role included:
- Organise and performed all training programmes in a yearly periodised plan
- Performed fitness testing when required
- Communicated closely with the individual coaches and player support team to maximise each players potential.
- Provided Sports Massage to all players daily.
South African Davis Cup Trainer and Massage Therapist. 2002 – 2005
Ensured the team of 4 players were in the best tennis and physical condition to compete for their country at each Davis Cup Tie. This included:
- Assisting the Captain on and off court in a coaching capacity and team selection for each match.
- Coordinating all team logistics during the week including transport, practise bookings, restrings, restaurant bookings and external issues relating to the players.
- Applying Sports Massage to the players daily.
- Ties were held in Yugoslavia (May 02), Hungary (Jul 02), Poland (April 03), Portugal (July 03),
Denmark (Sep 03), Slovak Republic (April 04), Germany (March 05)
