ITF and Special Olympics publish new course on ITF Academy
An online learning course giving guidance on how best to coach tennis players with intellectual disabilities – a result of a collaboration between the ITF and Special Olympics – is now available for free on the ITF’s online learning platform, the ITF Academy.
The ‘Introduction – Coaching players with intellectual disabilities’ course has already proved popular since its launch last week, with more than 390 users beginning the course so far. It is one of 36 courses currently available on the ITF Academy, which has been made free for all to access for the length of the global shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ITF has been working closely with Special Olympics on a number of projects since the two organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2016.
The course was developed with expertise from both organisations, with contributors including Cecilia Ancalmo (ITF Development Officer for Central America), Fiona Murray (Director of Coaching and Education at Special Olympics International), Teresa Leitao (Director of Sports at Special Olympics Brazil) and Nancy Hoekstra (Special Olympics Tennis Sport Resource Committee Chair).
Luca Santilli, ITF Executive Director for Tennis Development, said: “We are pleased to continue our partnership with Special Olympics, and hope that tennis coaches across the world will see the latest ITF Academy course as a valuable resource. Those involved in the production of the course have a huge amount of expertise in coaching tennis players with intellectual disabilities and we are grateful to them for sharing their knowledge and experience. We look forward to further developing our relationship with Special Olympics in future.”
Fiona Murray said: “Special Olympics is delighted to partner with the ITF in providing this great opportunity to introduce the tennis coaching community to Special Olympics and coaching players with intellectual disabilities.
“We recognise our partnership with the ITF and its national member associations as vital channels through which we can raise the quality of sport programmes we offer to our athletes around the world and expand our coaching workforce. We look forward to introducing the global community of tennis coaches to Special Olympics and invite them to join us in our local community programmes around the world.”
You can register for ITF Academy here.
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