HEAD OF PERFORMANCE
Douglas Rennie
The coach most often courtside at a Grade 3 on a wet Sunday. Douglas runs the squad structure, the county tournament programme, and the conversation about which event a player enters next.
- At Rowan Hall since
- 2011
- Coaching since
- 1999
- Programmes
- Squads · Elite
- Events attended
- 40+ a year
Coaching philosophy
“Enter to learn. A losing draw against better players teaches more than a title in the right age group.”Douglas
Douglas caps the number of events a player enters, which surprises parents who expect a performance coach to want more tennis. His argument is that a tournament is a coaching session with a scoreboard, and an unplanned one teaches nothing. Aims are written before entries are made, debriefs happen the day after rather than in the car park, and behaviour on court is graded the same way a forehand is.
Qualifications
Accredited and assessed
LTA Master Performance Coach
Awarded 2013.
LTA Level 4 Senior Performance Coach
Completed 2008.
UKSCA Foundation Coach
Supports the S&C team on court-side movement.
LTA Competition Organiser
Runs the Rowan Hall Grade 4 and county closed events.
Coaching background
Where the coaching came from
Douglas has coached in Surrey his whole career, starting as a Saturday assistant at eighteen and taking over Rowan Hall’s squads in 2011. He built the current four-tier squad structure and the tournament planning system every squad player now uses: eight to twelve events a year, four of them deliberately above level, each with an aim written before the entry is made.
Playing background
Where the playing came from
A county player through his teens who reached the national under-18 draw twice before deciding at nineteen that he would rather coach than travel. He still plays Surrey league division one.
Specialisms
What players come to Douglas for
Tournament planning
Builds every squad player’s competition year and enters the events himself.
Match charting
First serve, error patterns, points won and lost. Every squad match is charted.
Squad selection
Runs the trial blocks and writes the placement decisions for all four squads.
Point construction
The five patterns of play taught from green ball upward.
The rest of the team
Other coaches at the academy
Work with Douglas
Come and play first
Squad trials run 29 — 31 August, with places confirmed in September.