Challenges to elitism
In the stock taking of nations and their performances in the elite players development department, very few of the national associations come out strong. For the past decades, the WTA and ATP events are the destination for high performance and the career path for the young. They cannot depend on their national associations for this. The elite to be of today depends on private hands and overseas institutions to become a player worthy of WTA and ATP events.
The biggest setbacks for countries like ours in development are the poor local standard of tennis. (Which is no more than age group school standard). The lack of ‘game playing’ facilities is the other. Sri Lanka was a haven for these in the past. Present players who come through school and the age group grid are stuck now with such low standard of the game. They cannot even enter the main draw of our neighboring countries. A plight that has been in existence for the past few decades and I personally doubt this has been seen through yet.
This seems to be the case in many counties around the world. The telltale sign of this is the mass drop out and disappearance of players after the final age group success. Their names are never to be heard again.
Making ‘Pyramid top’ reappear
On a Pyramid if the apex is removed it becomes a sacrificial altar. It is a frightening thought to realize that’s what tennis development has become. A sacrificial altar in many developing countries. The claim that a large mass of players been developed now, is it for the sacrificial altar? What is true then is, children are exposed to tennis, but do not blossom in being elite players. If commercial interest exceeds, tennis will disappear and now it is disappearing faster than the Ozone layer.
Global Tennis calendar is at recess. At this time, it is good to ponder to recreate the Pyramid top for elites to reappear. The best is to learn from the career path of elite players who are successful in the global arena.
Few thousand to one
In any sport, the chances of a good player, meaning a world beater, appearing is a one in many a thousand. The nature of tennis is such too much have to be sacrificed in life style and in comfort to be a good player. This is not everybody’s cup of tea! Today, talents are selected with on court performance appearing on paper as a win loss record, rarely on life style, body type and commitment level. All the good players who became coaches say ‘talent is fairly common, but committed talent is extremely rare’. This has to be taken more seriously than a passing comment. What we have are stop gap plans and not planned talent screening.
Pitfall and good devices
The common development process is the ‘catch them young’ principle. For many a reasons this has not worked. The main reason is the low playing standards in the country. In talent ID, local success has to be totally discounted in countries like ours. Many professional promoters’ worldwide do not use this index. Parents of course have no choice but go with their children with local success even if the children are not committed talent. This inevitable approach is a failure guaranteed method. This is the reason for the resentment parents and drop out players show towards the sport after their failed career.
A good device is to expose players overseas in countries with high tennis standards and use it NOT to discount players, but to enable development. An age after16 is most appropriate. The body type and physical strength is paramount in tennis. All overseas tours will only yield if the ‘physical attributes and reaction skills’ are stepped up with appropriate work. It is stated that the build of 400 metres athlete is the best for tennis. It is an all-round development with great emphasis on the core strength. This means prior to 16 years of age, a great deal has to be done on the physical side.
Some system with lateral vision and experience must take control of the elite development without strings being attached. Bureaucratic approach is a sure failure.
Professionals holidays
The 2018 professional season is just three weeks from today. What are the players doing? Promotions, exhibition matches, fund raising, planning and of course developinga stronger game.
Roger Federer is with Bill Gates for fund raising, Djokovic is changing coaches for the Australian season, Venus Williams is setting her sights for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Wawrinka says her knee is still bad but hopes to appear in Australia, Nadal is nursing his knee too, New mum Serena is preparing for the 2018 season, Sharopova hopes to come back strong.
The current top 30 ranked must be starting to train for the grinding season. Professional players do not have a life to enjoy every dollar they have earned even in the off season and this is what the word ‘commitment’ means to the professionals. The would-be players will have to learn this to enter the pedestal of elitism.
A few new tennis stadiums are popping up. The most famous is the Dolphin at Hard Rock stadium in Miami USA. Rumors are the Williams sisters have a stake in it. It is their home turf.
George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of German Federation; National coach Sri Lanka & Brunei, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/coach– contact 94 77 544 8880 geodano2015@gmail.com -