adminOUTGOING Bulawayo Metropolitan Tennis Board chairman Zeb Mawisire feels the sport needs a national development programme if it is to produce players that can compete on continental and international scene.
Mawisire, who will not be seeking re-election when elections are held in a fortnight, said in Bulawayo the sport was stunted by lack of full-time administrators, adding that heaping the burden on coaches has had a negative effect.
Tennis coaches have had to fill in the administration gap because of a dearth of persons interested in taking up the posts, with Adam Joelson having been the previous chairman.
“I think with a national programme we can be able to develop administrators, enabling us to concentrate full time on our coaching job. Personally, I don’t want to continue in administration because it has taken a lot of my time that I could have focused on coaching. However, in the interim we have no option but to be administrators until such a time we have other people willing to take up those positions.
“Yes, we co-opted parents into our board but the problem with engaging the parents of players is that their interest ends when their child leaves the sport but we are hopeful one day some will become fulltime administrators,” said Mawisire.
In a bid to encompass people without coaching background in the board, Mawisire said they co-opted Lander Kadzombe and Clemence Hwata.
The acclaimed coach said he was now focusing on the girl child as he felt there were no efforts being made to assist female players.
Beyond junior level, Mawisire said there was no tennis activity for girls.
“I think we need to seriously consider sending female players to the Fed Cup instead of just focusing on males. Most girls get scholarships abroad and study while playing but do not turn professional,” said Mawisire, who turned his three daughters, Fadzai (27), Vimbai (26), and Tafadzwa (29), into formidable tennis stars.
He said initiating a tennis programme in the western suburbs schools was one of his highlights during his tenure, adding that tapping into talent in the western areas was critical as evidenced by the stars produced at Emakhandeni Tennis Club.
“While the sport is being introduced in western suburbs schools, I think they are not tapping into proper coaching expertise as we have teachers coaching when they are not fully conversant with the sport. I feel they should enlist the services of professional coaches if they are to produce stars.
“Another problem is lack of investment in the sport and people want everything to be free but I do not think free things are appreciated in the long run. Some form of investment if one is to be fully committed to the sport is critical,” said Mawisire.
Online Reporter