This is the second installment in a three-part series. Part One discussed preparing for and getting your first teaching job. Part Three will weigh some of the pros and cons of life as a tennis teacher.
Teaching tennis is unlike practicing law or medicine in that there's no legal requirement that you have any particular professional credentials. Most top clubs, though, will only hire certified pros, and certification, which is tied to membership in the certifying organization, offers some important benefits, including:
- courses and workshops on teaching tennis
- liability insurance
- specialized books and videos available only to members
- job listings
- subscriptions to tennis magazines including an exclusive members' magazine
- discounts on tennis merchandise
- help with the business end of the profession
- hosting for a Web site you create to promote your teaching
- eligibility for tournament competition against fellow members
In the United States, the two major certifying organizations are the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) and the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR). The PTR certifies tennis pros worldwide and recently changed its name from USPTR to PTR to reflect its international scope. I don't know enough about the professional tennis organizations that operate only outside the U.S. to include them in this article. In the interest of disclosure, I should point out that I have been a PTR member for many years.
