19 July 2016 | Tennis Queensland

Sam Stosur with scholarship recipients (from left) Ellie Baxter, Maria Bailey, and Grace Primilyrlidis.

Behind every tennis champion is a strong support team. Leading that team and developing the pathway to success for any player is their high-level performance coach.

Many of the coaches involved with Tennis Australia treat their role as their primary career, and are wholly committed to their players and to the game.

In a recent initiative, Tennis Australia’s Head of Women’s Professional Tennis Nicole Pratt, announced a series of scholarships for female coaches as part of Tennis Australia’s commitment to promoting women in tennis. It aims to increase the number and quality of female tennis coaches nationwide to continue building the future of tennis champions.

Queensland coaches Maria Bailey, Ellie Baxter and Grace Primilyrlidis were among the 15 scholarship recipients for 2016. Through the scholarship these women will have access to funding to support the completion of a Tennis Australia qualification in either a Junior Development, a Club Professional, a High Performance, or a Master Club Professional coaching course/BSB51915 Diploma of Leadership and Management. Scholarship recipients will also be provided with mentoring during the completion of their studies.

Queensland champion Sam Stosur was on hand in Melbourne to announce the scholarship recipients and meet Victorian candidates. “It was great to meeting Maria, Ellie, and Grace. They’re all really passionate about tennis and I’m sure they’ll be terrific coaches and mentors. Providing scholarships and getting more women into coaching is a powerful incentive and I look forward to seeing more women in coaching at all levels of the sport.

“Coaches are really important to being a player and developing a player at all levels of tennis. When I started and I was eight years old, it was really important to have a coach and somebody who believed in me, and who I loved being on the court with. As you get older, all that is still really important but I guess in a different setting” said Stosur of the women’s coaching scholarship.

There are currently 542 registered female coaches in Australia, 21 per cent of the national total. From ANZ Tennis Hot Shots to elite performance pathways, 35 scholarships are on offer for women undertaking coaching qualifications to develop players at all levels.