Creating and sustaining a high-performing tennis culture

The coach is identified as a key actor in the development of a high-performing culture, in this case, tennis. We investigated how the participating tennis coaches on the International Tennis Federation/Olympic Solidarity Tennis program in Spain made an impact within their national organizations, by developing and implementing a coach-created high-performing environment. We collected data using both interview and survey. Our findings from the survey indicated that the participating coaches found the program to be very helpful to their practice, especially long term tennis development, structure and organization of effective tennis programs and appropriate training methods. Analysis of the interviews revealed three main themes: 1) high-performing environment 2) deliberate focus on growth and development; 3) obstacles to creating a tennis culture. We discuss the difficulties associated with transferring a successful development programme to a different environment and conclude with some key points for implementation.