TENNIS TALENT IDENTIFICATION AT ELANGENI PRIMARY

MBABANE – Unearthing young talent and encouraging mass participation.

At least 143 pupils were selected during the Eswatini Tennis Association (ETA) schools’ talent identification programme,  that kicked –off yesterday afternoon at Elangeni Primary school. The selected children aged below 10 made it to coach Jerry Fears’ short list after passing a hand and eye coordination test aimed at testing the children’s athletics abilities. Fears was assisted by the school’s head of sports, Nkosinathi Khumalo, as well as national junior tennis players Thando Bhembe and Sakhile Hlophe who are students at Elangeni High School.
Fears thanked the school’s authorities for welcoming the programme which is aligned with the ETA’S strategic plan of making tennis one of the most played sports in the country.

progress

He said this was the first step to the programme, as the selected pupils would progress to a demonstration programme to be held at the Swaziland Building Society (SBS) national tennis courts at the Olympafrica Centre in Lobamba. “The younger they start the better. The excitement shown by the children is amazing and it is such programmes that will help create a continuous pool of tennis players from grass roots level. We will run a second selection exercised on Wednesday (next week) at the tennis centre starting at 1pm. We are grateful to the teachers and everyone who participated,” Fears said. ETA Board member Louis Nxumalo, said the success of the programme relied on the support of the parents. He said the focus would be schools located at the Ezulwini valley and in Lobamba.

“We want to take advantage of the fact that pupils are back and the young talent can be easily identified at schools. This means that the tennis facility will now be widely used by the children in this programme and we are grateful to the International Tennis Federation for availing the playing equipment to facilitate the development programme,” Nxumalo said.
The school’s sports teacher said sports participation was essential in a child’s mental development and confidence boost. He thanked the ETA for presenting this opportunity to the children and assured their collaboration as teachers to make this programme a success.

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