We need to improve coaching quality and development programme to progress — Former No. 1
KUCHING: Tennis in Malaysia is lagging very far behind compared to other Asian countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.As such the country is facing an uphill task in taking tennis to the level of these Asian greats.
International Tennis Federation (ITF) development officer for Asia, Suresh Menon said there was a need to improve the quality of coaching, officiating and players development if Malaysia wants to become a tennis power.
“We need to have a more structured and systematic development programme and a broader base of potential players from which we can develop and groom into future professional players,” he told thesundaypost in an interview.
Suresh was in Kuching as the ITF representative to the Junior Fed Cup by PNP Paribas Asia Oceania Qualifying event from April 26 to May 2 at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) centre.
The former national men’s number one player said that successful countries like the US, Russia and Australia started with a big base of players and there was a need to make tennis more accessible to the kids whether in schools or public places and promote the game in the country.
He said it was good that Malaysia has a lot of good tennis centres such as the SLTA centre but it was important that they should be utilised to the maximum.
On tennis development in Sarawak, Suresh emphasised on the need to focus on grass roots development where the need to get a bigger base of young players was vital.
“You also need to construct more courts and we should come up with a systematic grassroots development where the kids get to play in smaller courts, slower balls and smaller, lighter rackets,” he said.
Suresh added that in European countries, they build red, orange and green tennis courts for this purpose. “The red court is the court that stretches from one end of service line to the other and with balls that are 75 per cent slower than the normal ball while on the orange court which is three quarters of the normal court and balls that are 50 per cent slower than normal balls are used,” he said.
On the other court, which is the green court, it is a full court but the balls used are 25 per cent slower than the normal ball.
“There is a need to have this kind of equipment and facility to help the kids play tennis because tennis, unlike other games, is hard to learn and play,” said Suresh adding that kids as young as two to three years old can start learning to play tennis.
Suresh expressed his full confidence that SLTA would be able to do systematic grass roots development as he understood that the association had already sent three coaches to attend this kind of programme.
“They can do this as they have the facilities here. What they need is more coaches and get more children under six years old to play tennis,’ he said.
On another issue, Suresh said parents should play a supportive and contributory role instead of interfering with the administrative and coaching aspects on the development of their children.
“Some parents are ignorant about tennis and like to interfere with the authorities, the coaching methods and so on,” he pointed out.
He said they should be interested, understand and have more knowledge about the game and take a co-operative role instead of a competitive one and work closely together with the authority concerned as a team towards realising the ultimate goal.
On the other hand, Suresh said governing bodies should ensure there is a consistent system that is transparent, fair, without doubts or inconsistency so that the parents would know why and how it is being done.
“The parents must also understand that player’s development is a continuous process and should not expect to leave everything to the association or the state government in developing their kids,” he said.
They should also not put too much pressure on their children especially during their early years.
Instead, they should let the children have fun and enjoy learning and playing the game.