HEAD OF JUNIOR TENNIS
Amelie Fortin
Seventeen years of red, orange and green ball, and the author of the syllabus every junior coach at Rowan Hall now teaches from. The first coach most of our players ever meet.
- At Rowan Hall since
- 2009
- Coaching since
- 2004
- Programmes
- Mini & Junior Pathway
- Children taught
- 1,400+
Coaching philosophy
“A child who rallies on day one comes back on day two. Everything else follows from that.”Amelie
Amelie’s groups look like play and are not. Every game in her sessions has a technical checkpoint underneath it, and she will not let a child leave the red stage without the swing shape that Douglas and Marta will need at fourteen. She is also the reason parents are asked to watch from the loggia rather than the fence: children who are being coached by two voices at once learn from neither.
Qualifications
Accredited and assessed
LTA Level 4 Senior Club Coach
Completed 2012.
LTA Youth Start & Youth Rally specialist
Tutor for the LTA’s mini tennis coach training in the South East.
Safeguarding lead, junior programmes
Renewed annually.
BSc Sports Coaching, Loughborough
Graduated 2004.
Coaching background
Where the coaching came from
Amelie has spent her whole career in mini tennis, which is unusual: most coaches pass through it on the way to performance work. She wrote the Rowan Hall red-ball syllabus in 2013 and revised it four times since, and she trains every junior coach who joins the academy before they are allowed to take a group alone.
Playing background
Where the playing came from
A French regional junior who played to under-16 level in the Rhône-Alpes before a knee injury. She is candid that never having played at a high standard shaped how she coaches beginners.
Specialisms
What players come to Amelie for
First racket
Getting a four-year-old rallying in their first session rather than their tenth.
Swing shape foundations
The unit turn and low-to-high path that performance coaches later build on.
Coach training
Trains and signs off every new junior coach at the academy.
Festivals & first competition
Runs the in-house festivals where children play their first matches.
The rest of the team
Other coaches at the academy
Work with Amelie
Come and play first
First session is free for every junior, at any stage.