Tennis coach builds youth in the sport
She appreciates seeing children playing tennis, improving their skills and becoming club members.
Hermine Day has been fascinated by tennis from a young age but only got the opportunity to play in her 20s.
“With time my passion for tennis grew so much so that I became a certified professional tennis coach,” she said.
It also led to her starting her own tennis club.
Coaching started for Day in 1995 when she attended a CSIR tennis development workshop initiated by the Gauteng North Tennis Association to look for volunteer tennis coaches.
The initiative faced difficulties as there were not enough tennis facilities in Mamelodi or Eersterust.
The CSIR’s tennis facilities were in good condition and under-utilised at that time.
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Their executive committed to sponsoring transport costs for two or sometimes three taxis to bring players to the CSIR courts every Saturday morning during government school terms.
The programme was open to anyone who wanted to start playing tennis, thus youngsters from the surrounding areas also joined in.
It also allowed Hermine Day to coach children.
“The number of interested children grew very quickly, so much so that an average of 50 to 60 children joined the team,” she added.
For 25 years players from surrounding townships aged 6 to 18 or older benefited from the programme.
The development of tennis players took place outside the townships and the players later filtered back into their communities.
Most of the players got a chance to experience tennis, develop more confidence, self esteem, concentration and optimism, physical benefits like aerobic fitness, general body coordination, flexibility and dynamic balance, said Day.
“I am particularly grateful to all the parents who allowed their children to take part in this project, because without their children I would not have my own team,” said Day.
She appreciates seeing children playing tennis, improving their skills and becoming club members.
She has also seen players getting university scholarships overseas and a considerable number becoming tennis coaches locally.
“My long-term goals are to afford as many interested people to join the group and experience the joy of tennis and also the growth of tennis in township areas,” Day explained.
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Challenges faced by the initiative included motivating enough volunteers to help and securing long-term financial support and assistance from the official tennis associations.
Future plans for the initiative are to establish more sustainable tennis development projects in Mamelodi East.
All the children who came for training to the CSIR, should have a realistic chance to carry on with their tennis careers, she added.
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