A LITTLE ABOUT ME
Tom Allsopp and Jonny Marray (2012 Wimbledon Doubles Champion) winning the Under 18's Yorkshire Championships.
My Playing Experience
I have been involved with tennis since before I could walk. My parents met each other playing tennis as teenagers and still play regularly to this day. They dedicated a lot of time and energy driving me around the country to train and compete. Curiously, despite their support and tennis knowledge, they never coached me, but they inspired me and gave me the opportunity to play this great sport.
I grew up playing tennis in England, and found success playing the junior circuit and competing for my county. I’ve had so many valuable experiences as a player, from spending a year playing club tennis in Australia, to training daily with Jonny Marry (2012 Wimbledon doubles champion), to being a hitting partner for Lisa Reymond while she was the #1 doubles player in the world. As a player and coach, I enjoy the open nature of the sport, where each shot requires creativity and decision making skills to adapt mentally and physically to unpredictable and ever-changing situations.
My Coaching Qualifications
I have been coaching professionally for over 20 years, on three continents: England, Australia, and America. I have helped over 25 players to play college tennis, and helped many gain scholarships to D1 schools. I have coached several professional players, but some of my proudest moments are seeing novice players become passionate about the sport as they develop the skills to play on their high school or club teams.
Although I have USTA and LTA qualification, I learned the most about coaching by having Keith Reynolds as my mentor over the last 24 years. Keith has coached 29 UK national champions, and is the leading expert in training coaches across Europe. He helped me understand the skills required to play great tennis, and how to develop these skills within each individual player I work with. I am about to release my first book, endorsed by Keith, which explains my philosophy and methods of coaching tennis.
My Coaching Methods - Working With You, Not On You
After 20 years of coaching it has become easy for me to understand the ideal mechanics of each tennis stroke. However, effective tennis coaching is not about attempting to teach the ideal technique. Achieving real improvement requires working with each individual to help them develop their own unique strokes and skills. My talent is to understand how each player mentally and physically performs a particular shot. I can replicate these movements to better understand their game and demonstrate how to make specific adjustments.
Most people find me after they’ve gone down the YouTube rabbit hole of tennis videos. Online tennis coaches show the ideal way for executing shots, but bridging the gap from your current strokes to more technically sound strokes requires making the appropriate incremental adjustments. Regardless of your level or long term goals, I believe that making incremental adjustments, rather than radical changes, is the most efficient and effective way to improve technique. Furthermore, being able to make adjustments while playing your best tennis allows you to gain confidence and develop more skills from competing at your highest level.
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TESTIMONIALS
Hey Tom – just wanted to give you an update on the league I was competing in – this is my 4th year doing it and Ive been in the same division (3.5/4.0 ish). I’ve been crushed – like 2-10 every single year – until this season. I did very well and just beat a solid player in the semis and I’m on to the finals. A massive thanks to you – I attribute a level boost to all the video correspondence we have done. I owe you a nice write up / ref for your website – will put that together. All the best – Jay (I asked Jay if I could use this as his review)
After working with Tom for just one month my forehand improved far more than months of instruction at my local tennis club. My form was terrible for years because no one ever pointed out what I was doing wrong and how I could improve. By making small tweaks to my technique, I drastically improved the consistency and power of my ground strokes. Would highly recommend!
We have been using Tom’s video analysis and online zoom coaching services for 10 months now and cannot recommend Tom highly enough. Tom provides the ability to pick apart strokes at a fundamental biomechanical level so you know why shots are working and why they are not. The reason we have been working with Tom is that it is very easy to develop shots that work at one level but when players step up subtle flaws become exposed and it is so much harder to unpick the problem once the fault has become embedded in muscle memory. By ensuring the strokes are fundamentally sound at the outset we have confidence that the platform is there for the future. If you are serious about developing the best technique you can, Tom is the coach for you!
I coach a boys tennis team in Charlotte, NC and we have been using TPA Tennis video analysis services to help in the development of our high performance kids. Tom has been a tremendous value in providing detailed analysis of our matches. We find his analysis to be very professional and insightful and a good complement to our on-court live instruction and coaching. Tom has a great understanding of the learning process and how to efficiently and effectively help players.
I’ve been hitting for about 10 years just for fun and decided to make an honest attempt at getting better. I came across Tom’s videos on YouTube and found the general videos he made really helpful but it wasn’t until I contacted him and took his online coaching where he would help me specifically and mate…. he knows his sh*t!
In 6 weeks I’m easily a better player with much more tools and really looking forward to working with Tom over the next 6 months to a year to see what we can cook up together.
Sometimes as coaches we can get caught up in only addressing stroke production. Tom not only looks at the big picture, his teaching philosophy outlines how one thing influences another. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces fit perfectly. It makes it easy for the coach, and easy for the student to understand how to become better. I would strongly suggest that anyone that wants to improve as a coach contact Tom Allsopp.
Tom is truly a professional tennis coach. ‘Professional’ implies dedication, efficiency, creativity, and a genuine relationship with their profession. Tom is not a replacement ‘ball feeding machine with a voice’. He is an accomplished student of the game, continually investigating methods of how to help others learn, ever more quickly to become a genuine game playing tennis player. Tom cares about his players and the game. He is the real deal and the best value coach in town.
Tom and I started discussing tennis coaching methods about 3 years ago. He understands the skills that are required to play this game and how to effectively teach them. It’s a refreshing change from basket feeding and generic technical jargon. I would really encourage any parent, player or coach to contact Tom to see how he can help you. You will definitely learn many things that are not easily available or often discussed. I will continue to reach out to Tom as I improve my coaching and the coaching of others around me.
