Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
RENOWNED tennis coach Adam Joelson is counting his blessings after fully recovering from a back operation that saw him walking with the aid of crutches for about four months.
The 47-year-old Joelson, who started coaching at the age of 19 years and also served as Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Tennis Board chairman for five years from 2012-2016, had a cracked lumbar disc removed in May last year.
Joelson, a tennis and hockey coach at Falcon College in Esigodini, expressed his gratitude to medical staff that successfully conducted the eight-hour procedure.
He went on to post a video of himself hitting a tennis ball with a racket captioned ‘This is me now gradually getting back on my feet and doing what I love the most, impacting my knowledge in my field of expertise’.
Chronicle Sport caught up with Joelson at his Esigodini base on Tuesday and found him in a jovial mood as he continues with his recovery.
“When the pain at the back got unbearable last year, I had to go for surgery and after the doctor noted a crack on my lumbar disc, they recommended an operation. This was a delicate operation because any mishap could have led to me being confined to a wheelchair for life, and I thank God for guiding the medical team that conducted the operation.
“After the operation, I could hardly walk. I used the aid of crutches for more than three months and now I’m on a recovery path, and have started playing social tennis every Sundays. I’m back to doing what I love most, which is coaching,” said Joelson.
The Falcon College tennis and hockey coach said the coronavirus lockdown has seen the sports department giving online training techniques to learners so that they keep fit at home.
Joelson started his coaching career at McKeurtan and Robert Tredgold Primary schools before proceeding to Evelyn High School where he coached pupils from 1992-1997.
He then went on to offer his services to Dominican Convent in 1998 before relocating to Mutare where he joined the Manicaland Tennis Academy from 1998 to 2002.
Upon his return from the Eastern Highlands, Joelson coached Falcon College from 2003-2007 before rejoining Manicaland Tennis Association Academy for a year.
Between August and December 2008, he ran private coaching clinics at the Bulawayo Country Club.
He was voted vice-chairman of BMPTB in 2009 and continued training aspiring tennis stars at Dominican Convent.
The following year he moved to Girls College where he established the GC Tennis Academy and served up to the end of 2016 before rejoining Falcon College.
Joelson was BMPTB chairman for two terms from 2012 to 2015.
In 2017, Joelson led Falcon College to national league victory and lost in the semi-finals of the National Mim Du Toit, a premier tennis competition for private schools.
Falcon College finished in the quarter-finals of the 2018 edition and were semi-finalists of the National Mim Du Toit competition last year.
He names former African junior champion Mbonisi Ndimande, who is now coaching in the United States of America, and the late Zimbabwe girls champion Tarryn-Leigh De Souza as some of his best products.
“I’ve coached a number of players and my passion has always been with youngsters. I must say Mbonisi and Tarryn-Leigh were some of my best students,” said Joelson.
Some junior players that Joelson coached and eventually got tennis scholarship to the US include Lerato Ndlovu, Admire Mushonga, Ronzai Saurombe, Taremedzwa Mariga, Simba Happy and his brother Takura, Gloria Zhou and Pauline Chawafambira.
At Falcon College, the Under-15 trio of Hailey Banda, Patricia Mnangagwa and Ngonidzashe Ngadzibaya, Russell Forster (under-16) and the Under-18 pair of Tatenda Mukudu and Mark Van Wyk are among his best players. — @ZililoR
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