Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Tennis goes mini
|
KSLTA is now reformulating the concept of tennis as mini tennis to ensure it reaches more children
|
Catching 'em young. — Photos: Sampath Kumar G.P.
FOR ANY sporting activity to thrive, it should have a mass base, and the game should develop at the grassroots. For far too long, tennis had been regarded as an elite sport at least in the country. But that perception is slowly changing with few associations in the country, especially the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association, seriously implementing the ITF's visions for mini tennis.
Mini tennis is all about getting kids at an early age to play the game or at least develop an interest in the game by gaining the basic knowledge.
Like "galli cricket", mini tennis can be played on any surface and even in a closed room. The courts are one-fourth the normal dimensions, and the net is much lower than the usual height. All one needs is a ball and couple of racquets. The kids can get started. But then to get the kids to play, it should begin with proper instruction from the PT masters of their respective schools. By training these instructors in mini tennis, the KSLTA hopes to cover a large number of schools.
The KSLTA successfully completed a two-day workshop on mini tennis for physical instructors of various schools from Tumkur and Gulbarga districts. The programme was conducted on January 12 and 13.
"We at the KSLTA take the mini tennis concept very seriously and our aim is to get 100,000 kids across the State to take up mini tennis," says C.S. Sunder Raju, Secretary of the KSLTA. The KSLTA has planned a district-wise programme in mini tennis and plans to cover five more districts. About 15 schools in each district will be targeted to take up mini tennis.
The KSLTA has grand visions for the game in the State. It renovated the stadium and conducted world-class events such as the ATP World Doubles Championship, and several ITF and ATP Challenger events over the years. The game has truly gone to the districts with KSLTA installing synthetic courts in Gulbarga, Tumkur, Dharwad, and Belgaum. More centres soon would have all-weather synthetic courts.
The public courts, which are being built with the cooperation of Bangalore Mahanaga Palike, are a sure step in the right direction. But without mini tennis, the KSLTA feels the mission would be incomplete, which would eventually not ensure that the new concept reached people.
"To give you a right reason why we need mini tennis, let us take the example of Morocco. The country has successfully implemented a mini tennis programme and it has over 100,000 kids playing the game. Now, there are at least 10 Moroccan players in the top 100 rankings in the World. Those numbers are bound to grow with mini tennis programmes firmly in place there. We can surely replicate that example here," says Sunder Raju.
K.N.A.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
