15 Dec 2014

Former Spanish professional tennis player, Maria Llorca Pons has explained that young tennis players need to have regular competitive tournaments in order to measure their standards. 

Speaking in an interview during her on-going coaching camp at the Francistown School of Tennis on Friday, December 12, the former Spanish No.2 highlighted that lack of regular tournaments for young players in Botswana could only serve to hamper development of tennis players.

The coaching camp is one of the many capacity building initiatives by the school of tennis immediately after hosting the international tennis coaching course recently. She noted that in Europe, when young players are twelve, they would have played tournaments for four progressive years which made them competitive when they turned professional.

“This translates to them playing two tournaments per month unlike playing two tournaments per year,” she highlighted.  Since the coaching camps started, Llorca Pons said that she has been impressed by the enthusiasm shown by youngsters and their coaches.

However, she said that there is still a long way to go as tennis structures in the country are still lagging behind.  She explained that the camps also involve training of coaches on tactics and be able to master the basics of tennis that they should pass on to their students.

Hitting the ball, she mentioned, is not playing tennis and reiterated the fact that young players should be trained on tactics and how to deal with emotions especially during competitive games from an early age.

Llorca Pons also noted that one of the areas that she has identified was that the structure that coaches use is not effective and said she was working with them to structure lessons, identify mistakes and also be able to correct them. 

The former professional coach holds Spain’s highest tennis coaching licence and wants to impart knowledge to locals so that Botswana could in future produce great tennis players.

She also said that her objective was to establish the best tennis structure for young players at the Francistown School of Tennis and commended the school for laying the right foundation for future tennis success in the country. 

“I want to make sure that the coaches here have the right skills required at different levels and I am also grateful for the support that parents have given me since my arrival,” she added. 

The director of the Francistown School of Tennis, Dominique Raguin explained that the objective of the coaching camp was to expose young tennis players and coaches to skills from a former professional player.

The school of tennis, he highlighted, intends to continue in its quest to run international tennis camps, coaching courses of international standard so that young players can be prepared to be competitive internationally in future.

He explained that it was of great benefit that the former professional player was teaching coaches how they should structure lessons for different age groups.  “They will also benefit by learning how to make progression training during their sessions,” he added.

Llorca Pons will be at the school of tennis for six weeks and will complete her coaching camp in the middle of January in the New Year. ENDS