Abstract:
Customer satisfaction with the quality of sport services contributes significantly to the sustained
competitiveness of sport organisations, and customer retention. This study measured the
perceived service quality of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Starter-Beginner coach
education courses. A purposive sample of four courses and 56 tennis coaches was drawn. A precourse
and post course SERVQUAL questionnaire together with a biographical questionnaire
were administered. The findings of the current study suggest that tennis coaches are dissatisfied
with four of the five SERVQUAL dimensions of service quality namely the reliability of the
services, the responsiveness of the ITF as service provider, the tangibles of the course as well as
the empathy of the ITF. Tennis coaches expressed overall satisfaction in the service dimension of
assurance of service users. Satisfaction with service quality differed across the four different
geographical course locations suggesting dissatisfaction with personal interaction between head
tutors and participants. This study should be regarded as exploratory research in the area of tennis
coach education service quality. Further research should determine the reliability and validity of
the SERVQUAL instrument in sport coach education contexts.
