Chronicle Editor
Descent Dube, Sports Reporter
EMAKHANDENI Tennis Club chairman Witness Jiyane attended a tennis workshop in Durban, South Africa, aimed at assisting coaches with modern tennis techniques used overseas.
The workshop was oganised by the founder of Tennis Aid, Martin Roggo, who is assisting Emakhandeni Tennis Club with an assortment of tennis playing equipment.
Roggo is a Level 3 tennis director.
“I was humbled by the invitation from Martin (Roggo) and I gained a lot of experience, which I’m going to impart to my young players. The grassroots level was the main focus at the workshop and a lot of emphasis was made on the importance of grooming kids at a tender age.
“Different nations use different terms, but the commonality is that teaching process takes into consideration the specific character of the game. As a result, we were taught to structure the teaching process with the idea of adapting it to the match situation,” said Jiyane.
He said 16 other coaches that attended spent most of the time learning how to be creative and tactical thinking.
“I also learnt that priority for the players is to understand the game, develop a game sense and learn practical competences, for example, how to attack the net, not just how to hit nice shots. The professional aspect fully recognises the player as the centre of the coaching process and all efforts should be made to provide the best assistance possible to help the player achieve his goals.
“Modern coaching is sports science coaching, thus the nutrition, physical and psychological aspect is important. Now I’m aware that it’s impossible to understand the coaching process at any tennis level without a sound sports science basis, which implies the use of sports science fundamentals in daily coaching,” he said.
— @DecoDecent2
Online Reporter