Letter to the Editor-In defence of tennis |21 April 2008

Tennis in Seychelles, as Mr Knowles has known during his time as a junior player in the 80s, has changed for the better. Our tennis was not then officially known outside our own country.

I have since, through my own initiative, put it on the world tennis map by getting the association to join the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Confederation of African Tennis (Cat) – two reputed international governing bodies.

This is a marked improvement in itself and has resulted in the yearly donation of a consignment of tennis rackets and balls which are lent to the juniors for training. This is NOT spoiling them as it has been said. It is a duty imposed on us by the ITF, the donor, to promote tennis among children.

In the early tennis days of Mr Knowles, rackets had to be bought, which meant tennis was restricted to a few people, but we have evolved since and tennis has now been democratised. A lot more people, children as well as adults, play tennis these days and, quite understandably, more demand is made upon us at administrative level with some hiccups inevitably arising at times.

We have a school tennis programme and Saturday classes for schoolchildren (beginners) with special training during the week for a select group. This is another improvement over the past when there was no formal coaching, which Mr Knowles has admitted himself.

In the past, we depended on three private courts at Mont Fleuri, built entirely with private funds whereas now we have a government-owned national tennis centre consisting of five tennis courts, albeit needing maintenance and repair.

A few of our juniors have even managed to win gold and bronze medals in overseas tournaments, something never heard of in the early days. We can now boast of a nucleus of good promising juniors who are not always easy to beat and who should improve as they get more experience.

As for problems, of course we have them like in every other sports federation in the country. Problems are inevitable in any human organization, but why pick on tennis and make it a scapegoat?

What is important is that in spite of the problems,we keep on trying our best as an association to promote tennis in whatever way we can and with whatever we have. We certainly have some impediments, some of which affect the motivation of our players, which make our task harder and challenging, namely:

1. Our courts are in an unsatisfactory state and the sports authorities are aware of it and we are still waiting for something to be done. We have approached the ITF for financial assistance but they expect government to contribute its share as well. One of our generous sponsors has started renovating one court at his own expense but he is having difficulty getting the surfacing material he has ordered out of Customs without paying duty. We think duty could be waived in this instance and we should give him the encouragement and cooperation he deserves.

2. We have no coach. We had negotiated for our Tanzanian coach to return and continue his good work. It had been agreed that government would pay him a modest salary and that the association would provide him with a flat, but all of a sudden his recruitment has been turned down.

3. Our annual budget has been cut to half.

4. We find it increasingly difficult to send promising players overseas to compete in tournaments because of the forex problem and the ever-increasing air fares.

5. Our best players do not always persevere in the sport. Once they leave their post-secondary education, they find themselves in ‘new situations’ which take them away from tennis. We did, a couple of  years ago, send one or two players overseas on a special scholarship to further their studies combined with tennis, but their courses have taken on new dimensions with tennis dropping in importance.

6. We had hoped that our three tennis courts at Mont Fleuri would be renovated to supplement those of Roche Caïman to enable us to have sufficient courts to host an African junior tournament, but unfortunately we had to give away the site for the building of a new school for Mont Fleuri.

I am glad to say that we have a committee that is dedicated to the development of this great sport in Seychelles and that in spite of the problems and the unfair criticisms, we shall continue forging ahead and keep tennis going. We invite Mr Knowles, who claims to be a tennis enthusiast and who has much to contribute to the sport, to give us a helping hand.

John L. Adam
Chairman, Seychelles Tennis Association