A unique tennis development project spearheaded by Port Alfred tennis coach, Handri Westman, with support from Royal St Andrews Hotel (RSAH), Pick n Pay and PA Tennis Club, is reaping benefits.
The project that attracts young tennis players from various schools in the Port Alfred region, kicked off at the end of last year and is fast gaining traction as a major success story.
Westman, a highly qualified tennis coach who is also Eastern Cape Tennis chairperson, has been an important acquisition for the Ndlambe region.
The project, with Westman at the helm, comprises a two-leg structure: the first, a clinic geared towards a development group and the other focuses on sponsoring a few hand-picked talented players who receive expert coaching once a week.
“The youngsters have benefitted tremendously and developed into very good players,” said Westman.
Sunshine Life Centre has come on board to play a crucial role in channelling youth to the development initiative through their contact with teachers.
“Teachers enthusiastically organise 30 players per clinic,” said Westman.
“A core group develops from here, with players attending every clinic. Once they have developed well enough they begin to compete, initially playing some matches among themselves. We also play matches against Port Alfred and Kowie Foundation Schools.”
Westman says there have been several highlights from the 1st leg of the programme.
“Three boys have played against top schools in Makhanda such as Kingswood winning gold, silver and bronze.
“Part of the coaching initiative not only focuses on the game itself … so, while all the games we play has a tennis focus, it is also directed to the stimulation of the development of good values in our youth,” she says.
Westman says while there is talent aplenty among the groups of youth, “we have to take them to the next step which means getting them on court more to compete at higher levels, which is a challenge”.
“Our last development clinic was on Saturday (October 12) and we had a great time.
Enthusiastic teachers
“The teachers who accompanied them, always make a big difference as they are enthusiastic and always encouraging the children.”
Westman says the teachers themselves are also learning to play the game and there is an initiative to train them as coaches “and hopefully we will have some coaches from that group soon.”
The 2nd leg of the project is focused on sponsoring a few hand-picked talented player’s coaching sessions once a week and there has been a few successes.”
“This helped Port Alfred High School win the U13 boys section of Sarah Baartman Rising stars competition, a Tennis SA tournament run over the whole country. The team has already among others beaten more established schools such as Kingswood, St Andrews etc,” says an excited Westman.
Another feather in the cap was being placed 5th in a recent Eastern Cape tournament for juniors.
Some of the development players have also represented Eastern Cape tennis in Pretoria, East London, Cape Town and have qualified for the EC Masters, consisting of the top eight players selected from all the provincial tournaments this year.
“We cannot do this work without the amazing support from Royal St Andrews Hotel and Pick n Pay, who organise transport and help with food for the players, respectively.”.
“There has been tremendous growth in tennis and confidence in the system is growing. These youngsters received opportunities to play tournaments and to excel and are undoubtedly opening new doors for these individuals.
“Though the project is successful, we need more support to grow it and take it to another level,” said Westman.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, October 17, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
