Tennis Coach Resume Example & Writing Guide

You’re a tennis coach with a love of the game and the desire to teach others. You have the work experience and the credentials and are ready to make your next move. All you need is a little coaching of your own to create a resume ace and net that interview.

Let Resume.io serve up the help you need, drawing from our 350+ occupation-specific resume examples and writing guides. Then in this guide, you will find more directly relevant advice, backed by a tennis coach resume example. What we’ll cover:

• A look at tennis coaching to put your career in perspective
• How to write a tennis coach resume, starting with the right structure and format
• Making each resume section enhance your story of success: header, profile, employment history, education and skills
• Develop a profile that does more than summarize your career
• Keeping your design clean for a professional look.

What does a tennis coach do?

From teaching fundamental skills to preparing for competitions, tennis coaches are dedicated to helping tennis players at varying levels improve and succeed in achieving their personal or professional goals. They organize and conduct practice sessions, develop personalized plans for improving form, techniques and stamina; encourage and motivate players to fulfill their potential; and promote a sportsmanlike mindset and team spirit. Tennis coaches typically have experience working with individuals, groups and teams.

How to write a tennis coach resume

Planning and organizing are integral to a tennis coach’s routine, so getting ready to write your resume should be second nature. What virtually all resumes have in common, no matter what the occupation, is a structure that includes these essential components:

• Header
• Summary
• Employment history
• Education
• Skills

As we’ll see later on, each of these individual sections serves a certain purpose.

Choosing the best resume format for a tennis coach

The most commonly used chronological format is recommended for tennis coaches who have primarily held employee positions, in the same or similar capacity. Your story of career growth and development over time is told through job highlights for each place you worked, in order from most recent to earliest dates. 

The functional resume format, emphasizing transferable skills, or the hybrid (combination) resume format, may be suitable for a tennis coach who is self-employed, new to the workforce, or changing careers.

Resume header

Your tennis coach resume stands a better chance of being noticed and remembered by hiring managers if your identifying information is displayed in an eye-pleasing header. That should include your name, occupation title, phone number and email address. It’s a good idea to add your LinkedIn profile URL also.

A distinctive header serves as a personal branding element, so your job application stands out from the rest. So much the better if your cover letter and resume documents are a matching pair, with identical headers and other design elements.

Tennis coach resume profile example

Your resume profile, also known as a summary or personal statement, should be more than an overview of your career. Hiring managers and recruiters want to know who you are as well as what you have achieved. Use these three to five profile statements to tell them. Don’t be afraid to brag a little without exaggerating. After all, you should be proud of your achievements!

You can use this section to answer some potential interview questions such as:

• How did you become passionate about tennis?
• What is your coaching philosophy?
• What coaching techniques do you use to inspire players?
• What age or level players have you coached and what methods do you use in different age groups?

Answer all or none of these questions in your profile, but make sure you mention your greatest accomplishments, whether it be coaching a varsity team to a championship, moving up from assistant tennis coach to head coach, or playing on the circuit as a tennis professional. Use tennis terminology when appropriate to show your understanding of the game.

If you can’t fit everything you want to say in your profile, remember that you can add a few more details into your cover letter, which should complement your resume.

Below is sample content for a tennis coach resume profile.

Employment history sample 

The employment history section takes up the bulk of your resume. Don’t make the mistake of simply listing your previous jobs and responsibilities — look at the big work experience picture. Where did you start out in your career? What coaching positions have you had since that have added to your skills? What would you like your next job to be?

Why think about your next job? Because you should be telling hiring managers that you already have the skills necessary to do that job. If you want to work at an NCAA Division 1 school, show that you have coached student athletes before. If you have a great record of winning tennis tournaments at the college level, make sure you highlight that.

Show potential employers that you know how to work with a coaching staff by describing a great interaction if you were an assistant, or how you supervised staff as a head coach. Highlight your ability to develop individual, group, or team-oriented programs to help players improve their technique and ability. 

Choose each bulleted item carefully with the job you are applying for in mind. Each tennis coaching job is different, so each resume should be different to reflect that. Recruiters want to know that you are applying for the specific job they are trying to fill.

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Use powerful action verbs and mention job specific accomplishments that showcase your ability to serve as an effective tennis coach. 

Check out the adaptable tennis coach employment history sample below.

Tennis coach resume education example

The education section of your resume should list any post-secondary education and training that you have completed. That might include a college degree in an athletic field such as physical education.While an advanced degree is not usually required, a bachelor’s degree may be preferred in some higher level academic settings. Educational requirements vary depending on the environment you wish to coach in, so be sure to check the job listing. 

List all degrees and courses in reverse chronological order, from highest to lowest levels. Any honors or distinctions should be noted here as well. If you hold a degree higher than a bachelor’s degree, you may leave out your high school.

Many tennis coaches are players who have earned coaching certification through the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) or the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR). Your certifications can go into the education section, or you can create a separate category.

See the sample education content for a tennis coach below.

CV skills example

Your skills section should be tailored to each job and contain a mix of the hard skills necessary to coach tennis and the soft skills that make you a great communicator and organizer. Coaches must be much more than good tennis players. The best resumes will show potential employers you understand that. Highlight the skills it takes to teach others, create an atmosphere of camaraderie, and problem-solve budgetary or scheduling issues. 

Tennis coaches must be able to communicate ideas and instructions well to effectively coach players in practices and matches. They have to work with many different types of people and bring out the best in them.

See example content below.

Resume layout, design and formatting

The final touches on your resume also offer the first impression. You need to wow recruiters with a clean, professional design.

Be aware that resume formatting errors can sabotage the success of your job application. Instead of doing it on your own, try using an online resume builder tool such as Resume.io's, along with one of our resume templates. We recommend the modern, simple, or professional categories for tennis coaches. These easy-to-use tools will ensure you avoid design mistakes that could cost you an interview. 

Our templates can be personalized, but make sure you stick to a legible font, keep your header information easy to find and read, and leave plenty of white space, with ample margins, to keep the look neat.

Finally, remember to proofread — or better yet, get a friend or colleague to do it. A second set of eyes is always helpful.

Key takeaways for a tennis coach resume

1. No matter how much competition you face as a tennis coach job applicant, an outstanding resume can help you gain a winning edge.
2. Besides highlighting your proudest accomplishments, the profile section should give a sense of your passion, personality, and tennis coaching philosophy.
3. Customize all sections of your resume to match what the target job and employer require.
4. To look like a pro, in addition to sounding like one, a resume template can deliver a stunning layout and design score.

The ball’s in your court! Go get that coaching job today!