Patent Pending
The EASI Tennis™ Certification is a new tennis teaching certification standard. The objectives of this teaching standard are to significantly improve tennis instruction generally; create a uniform professional teaching corps; dramatically accelerate tennis development; expand the market for tennis world wide; create a career path for teaching professionals.
Certification assures that the instructor is able to guide the student in:
Learning tennis technique fast and effectively. Learning by Exploration and Experimentation. Learning to be Adaptable to new concepts as their tennis studies progress. Becoming skilled at Self-determination and Self realization through taking their development into their own hands. Becoming continually more Independent and self teaching as they progress.
Fundamental to being certified is understanding how people learn best and being able to tailor one's teaching methods to accelerate the learning process. The key ideas that must be understood and explored for certification, depending on the level of certification desired, are summarized in the article New Directions and in the article EASI Tennis™ System
Level One is the entry level and requires minimal skills. A Level One instructor is encouraged to advance to a Level Two Pro in five years. In essence, Level One is an on the job training level. A Level One Pro is qualified to be an assistant to a higher level pro.
Level Two and above are career level positions designed to permit the pro to find employment in clubs, colleges, or with touring pros. It involves keeping up to date with the latest methods through the EASI Tennis Program or through other methods.
Both the USPTA and USPTR are distinguished professional tennis organizations devoted to supporting a full range of services to teaching professionals to include such matters as club management and the economics of the tennis profession in addition to providing a training program for teaching tennis. Both organizations provide a training process to ensure uniformity of teaching styles, procedures, and subject matter. In short, The certification process of the USPTA and USPTR cover all aspects of the tennis profession.
In contrast, the EASI Tennis™ Certification only covers methods of tennis instruction and the scientific principles of the learning process. In the area of instruction, both the USPTA and USPTR have adopted the traditional method of teaching that relies heavily on metaphors, templates, rules, and rote repetition (see New Directions II for a summary of why the traditional methods used by the USPTR, USPTA and even the USTA require such a long and expensive learning process). The EASI Tennis™ System does not rely on any of these four elements but rather utilizes a system that is specifically tailored to the latest research on how people learn best and most quickly. In this regard, we have discarded metaphors, templates, rules, and rote repetition as aids to teaching and have developed an entirely new approach based on the factors of learning described in New Directions.
What does certification involve ?
There are four levels of certification. The most basic level is that of Professional Instructor 1(PI-1). PI-1certifies that the instructor has a basic understanding of the information in New Directions and EASI Tennis System. and has been obverted by the EASI Tennis™ Certification staff teaching the general public using these fundamentals. PI-2 certifies that the instructor has sufficient knowledge of the factors of learning and the EASI Tennis™ System to train other instructors to teach the EASI Tennis™ System. PI-3 certifies that the instructor is level PI-2 certified and has attended two advanced seminars on methods of learning and professional technique. PI-4 certifies that the instructor is PI-3 certified and has contributed to furthering the development of the EASI Tennis™ System or tennis research generally.
Who can be certified?
Anyone can be certified, including USPTA, USTA, and USPTR pros, by passing the relevant examinations.
How are the Examinations Conducted?
The examinations are oral, not written, except by special arrangements. The oral examination does not seek to test rotely learned knowledge, but rather your understanding of the information. A familiarity with Langer's The Power of Mindful Learning is recommended to anyone seeking certification at any level. There are not "right" or "wrong" answers in the usual sense of an exam. Every effort will be made by the examination staff to help you reach your desired certification level.