Steve Whelan

Steve Whelan is an internationally respected coach developer, educator, and specialist in Ecological Dynamics, Ecological Psychology, and the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA). With over 24 years of experience coaching across club, performance, and pathway levels, Steve brings a rare blend of on-court credibility and academic rigour.

His work focuses on transforming coaching practices by moving beyond traditional, linear models and toward methods that prioritise adaptability, perception-action coupling, and representative design. Steve’s practical expertise is grounded in extensive real-world success with players of all levels, and he continues to coach actively to test and evolve his ideas in the chaos of competition.

Steve is also a published academic, contributing the tennis chapter to "Ecological Dynamics in Sports Coaching" (Routledge, 2025), where he explores how coaches can shape learning through affordance-rich environments.

Whether delivering keynote presentations, mentoring coaches, or designing development frameworks, Steve is committed to empowering coaches to modernise without losing the essence of the game.