Yeoville Tennis Club struggles along
Coaching and development of players' skills is good and in fact, better than expected considering the limited or non-existent equipment and facilities.
The Yeoville Tennis Club’s mission is to ensure that most children and adults in the community take an active interest in tennis.
Though the road to accomplishing that seems bumpy, the determination from the stakeholders of the club makes up for it. Mr Abraham Petros, who is the development officer at the Yeoville Tennis Club (YTC), said the last year was a good one for the club.
“About 10 players participated in tournaments for the first time; we received a limited sponsorship for six players at the Wanderers Tennis Club (WTC) and private sponsorship for the payment of coaching stipends. We were also able to use the Waverley Tennis Club (WTC) grounds to practice on Saturdays,” said Mr Petros.
He said with the positives came the negatives, and lamented the shortage of funding, equipment and tennis clothing for players and the general bad state of the facilities.
“We would appreciate some assistance from government and the private sector,” said Mr Petros.
He said the coaching and development of players’ skills is good and in fact, better than expected considering the limited or non-existent equipment and facilities.
“The development of facilities is poor. There are potholes on the courts and no bathroom facilities. Most of the tournament players are good; three of the players who played in the Wanderers Club U/14 league are doing exceptionally well. They won all their matches and finished first in the league section,” said Mr Petros.
According to Mr Petros, there is a group of up-and-coming potential tournament players, who are showing great improvement and enthusiasm for the sport.
In February this year, the YTC organised an open day at the Wanderers Tennis Club and invited development youngsters from Gauteng North.
“A total of 60 players participated in the open day, the day was a great success. We have since been unable to contain the number of players who turn up for practice,” said Mr Petros.
He said regardless of the run-down courts, their aim is to produce players who will be ranked highly nationally and, hopefully, who can participate in international events.
“We hope we can be a centre of excellence, but it can only be possible with some support from government and the private sector,” said Mr Petros.
