E1M TENNIS TRAINING CENTRE COMING IN 2018

MBABANE – The future of tennis looks bright. On Friday, the Swaziland National Tennis Association (SNTA) signed a 15-year lease agreement with the Swaziland Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (SOCGA) for the OlympAfrica Development Centre premises in Lobamba, wherein it earmarks constructing a National Tennis Centre.

Already, SNTA has raised half of the E1 million landmark project, with the rest of the funds set to be sourced from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) through its facility grant programme. According to SNTA President Maxwell Jele, the centre would consist of four tennis courts and would be used to groom future tennis stars under the guidance of qualified coaches.

A tennis court construction is projected to cost E250 000. Yesterday, SNTA submitted their proposal to the ITF Facility Grant Committee ahead of their May meeting. Among other requirements, the ITF Facility Grant Committee expects an association to raise its own funds for a particular project, provide drawings and lease agreement of land where necessary.

Though Jele said the proposal was set to be unpacked in their executive meeting on Thursday, he confirmed that it has been sent to ITF for valuation and that they had signed the lease agreement with SOCGA. 

“The National Tennis Centre is on the pipeline, we hope it will be realised this year. We will build four tennis courts at the OlympAfrica Centre with funds from combined local sponsors that will be revealed in due course and ITF grant. We are crossing our fingers that the ITF Facility Grant Committee approves the project in their meeting early May,” Jele said.

He added that for a start, they would have at least two coaches stationed at the centre, hence they were currently working on capacitating as many coaches with ITF Level I courses.

Since building or resurfacing one or more tennis courts is not only relatively expensive but also a long time investment, special care should be taken in the selection of professionals involved in the project.

In the construction of a tennis court, there are many instances where problems relating to slope, layout, orientation, and the like arise such that to proceed without the advice and experience of a member of the Tennis Court and Sports Field Builders Association of Australasia, experienced in tennis court design would be unwise.

For each particular court surface type, there are different methods of construction, which need to be considered and adopted to achieve the desired final result.

Considerations such as the type of drainage required, construction materials needed, surface preparation and finish, as well as maintenance of the court upon completion, need all to be allowed in order to achieve a successful court to be built with minimum delays.

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