THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The tennis training initiative underway at Ramanathan Krishnan Tennis Stadium, Kumarapuram here, since April has stood out from its antecedents for taking the game, otherwise deemed a luxury only for the elite, out to the masses.
“For a sport that recently could only be played by members of private clubs, it has been exciting to see 250 children attending the vacation camp, of which 20 came from BPL families,” said M R Ramesh, convenor and treasurer of the Trivandrum Tennis Promotion Committee, that monitors the camp.
The facility built for the 35th National Games was handed over to the committee chaired by the District Collector and the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs with the objective of making tennis more popular, and taking into account the initial signs, the prospects are encouraging.
“Training these youngsters will widen the base of the playing pyramid which is the only way to reliably produce a stream of high quality professional tennis players,” he said, adding that the programme is set to continue even after the schools reopen.
Trainees to the centre will be selected at a very early age through the mini tennis programmes that are already being run across the state. Those who display talent and promise will be brought to the Thiruvananthapuram centre and put through intensive tennis skills training. These youngsters are then expected to enter the ranking tournaments in the domestic tennis circuit which will help them to gain valuable match experience to develop into decent professionals.
The promise of the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs to augment the infrastructure at the Kumarapuram facility by adding a gymnasium, jogging track, basketball courts, cafeteria, dormitories and sports shop, among others, will only serve for the good.
However, one stumbling block for this project is the lack of tennis coaches in the state at the moment. Kerala State Sports Council coach Biju Mani, who supervises the training at Kumarapuram, is one among the few experienced tennis coaches in Kerala.
“There is a severe shortage of qualified tennis coaches not only in the state but also everywhere in the country. This issue can only be addressed by having a tennis coaches training programme open to all, including people from rural areas,” said Biju. “With the increased interest in tennis among youngsters, the demand is only on the rise,” he said. A coaches’ training programme is also expected to begin at the facility under the auspices of the Kerala Tennis Association which will enable coaches to get employed at clubs and sports councils.