11 Jan 2015

The Francistown School of Tennis has ended its three weeks camp and coaching clinics by hosting an Open Tennis Day for the SOS Children’s Village recently.

In an interview with BOPA, the director of the school, Dominique Raguin said the purpose of the Open Tennis Day is to offer children from SOS Children’s Village the opportunity to discover tennis with visiting tennis professional Maria-Jose Llorca Pons, from Spain.

Raguin said the day, which was sponsored by Willy Kathurima Associates, Motor Holdings Francistown and Impex catered for the 16 children that were not collected by relatives from the village.

He said a morning was dedicated to tennis and in the afternoon the children will enjoy braai and take a dip in the Francistown Club Swimming Pool.

Raguin said in January, the school will start an on-going programme with about 70 SOS Children aged between 4-10 years where they will be trained twice a week for a period of two months.

He explained that after the two months, depending on sponsorship, the best 5-20 children will be selected to be developed into competitive tennis players.

The former Spanish professional tennis player, Llorca Pons observed that generally Batswana children have potential but lamented that the country does not have the right structures to assist professional tennis players.

She said without the right structures it is impossible for the country to nurture the talent that she has identified.

Llorca Pons, who conducted the training camps and also had an opportunity to train the SOS children, once coached the Spanish national team and she now owns a school of tennis in Valencia in her home country. ENDS