For decades, coaching juniors in tennis has been defined by one dominant focus: technique. Better strokes, cleaner footwork, sharper tactical decisions. If a player could execute under pressure, the assumption was simple, they were “mentally strong.”
But that definition is no longer enough.
Beneath every forehand, every second serve, every late-night training session, there is a quieter architecture being built: belief, attention, emotional control, and identity that determines how a player responds when it matters most.
And at the centre of that architecture stands one figure who often works in silence, but shapes everything: The coach.
The upcoming series of practical workshops, 'Coaching Beyond Technique: The Mental Game,' delivered in partnership between Tennis Europe and Vodar, is designed to explore exactly that: how tennis coaches don’t just work on junior players’ technique, but actively shape the mental competencies they develop on the court, which are a key driver of exceptional performance. This shift does not replace technical coaching. It expands it. Not away from technique, but into a dual role: a technical coach and a mental skills coach.
A New Layer of Coaching Responsibility
In modern junior tennis environments, coaches are already the primary influence on a player’s mental development, whether intentionally or not.
Every training session contains mental training moments:
- How a coach reacts after a double fault
- How feedback is delivered after a loss
- How pressure is introduced systematically in drills
- How mistakes are treated in real time
In other words: mental training is already happening. These micro-interactions accumulate - they become internal dialogue, and eventually, they become an identity that shows up at tournaments.
This is exactly why parents are increasingly attentive to this dimension of coaching. Modern parents are not only asking: “Is my child improving technically?”
They are also asking:
- “Is my child becoming more resilient?”
- “Is my child emotionally okay after training sessions?”
- “Can they handle pressure both in training and tournaments?”
- “Are they learning discipline without losing joy?”
- “Are they developing confidence and emotional stability?”
The goal of these workshops is not to turn coaches into psychologists. The goal is to give coaches sharper instruments. Tools that fit into their language, their time constraints, and their real-world environments and acquire a unique professional advantage.
Who are these workshops for?
These workshops are built for coaches:
- Managing multiple age groups
- Operating with limited time and high performance expectations
- Working in multilingual, multicultural environments across Europe
- With no prior experience in sports psychology
- Confident in technical training but seeking practical mental coaching tools
- Supporting juniors who perform well in practice but struggle in competition
- Aiming to build resilient, self-regulating athletes
- Focused on long-term development, not only short-term results
Workshop Series Key Topics & Outcomes
Workshop 1: Mental Coaching as a Core Coaching Skill
📅 18.06 - Register online
Workshop 2: Planning and Applying Mental Coaching Throughout the Year
📅 25.06 - Register online
Workshop 3: Practical Drills and Tools for Each Age Group and Mental Challenge
📅 02.07 - Register online
Financial Terms
€59 per workshop — single workshop access
€149 full series (3 workshops package) — includes:
- Access to all three workshops + recordings
- Certificate of completion
- Bonus materials and individual consultation
- 3 months of promotional access to Vodar
Key Topics
- Redefining the coach role: from technical coach to mental performance leader
- Core mental skills in junior tennis (focus, resilience, emotional control, confidence)
- Age-based development of mental skills (9–17) aligned with cognitive and emotional growth
- Practical integration of mental training into everyday coaching sessions
- Annual, monthly, and competition-cycle mental planning (periodization)
- Simple tools for monitoring mental progress and athlete development
- Training mental skills through real tennis situations, not theory
Key Outcomes & Competencies
- Coaches confidently deliver mental training as part of regular coaching practice
- Shift from reactive coaching (fixing mistakes) to proactive coaching (building mental capacity)
- Ability to design and structure mental development across a full season
- Ability to teach age-based mental skills (ages 9–17) aligned with cognitive and emotional growth.
- Practical on-court confidence using ready-to-use drills and tools
- Fully integrated system for a year-round mental training approach
- Stronger coach identity as a “dual-domain” technical + mental performance coach
Full program HERE
Speaker: Karina Karaga - Founder of Vodar
Karina integrates neuroscience, sports psychology, and technology to develop tools for coaches that help them seamlessly incorporate mental training while ensuring it remains effective and engaging. She has delivered training workshops in partnership with Tennis Europe for coaches and parents from more than 100 countries, sharing best practices for raising mentally resilient junior athletes.