Tennis levels up coaching education

Kabelo Boranabi | Friday May 7, 2021 14:47

Raising the bar:The Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) has acquired a 'White level' recognition by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

The BTA Coach Education System has met all the criteria established by the ITF Coaches Commission for the White level recognition, becoming only the fourth in Africa after Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. The recognition is for a period of four years ending in December 2025, pending a review.

Speaking to Mmegi Sport, BTA president Oaitse Thipe said the move will enable the federation to conduct its own coaching clinics in line with the ITF. He said the BTA already has six coach trainers and will help speed up the process of helping local coaches attain the relevant qualification.

“In Africa, the coaching has been haphazard, we are now the only fourth country in Africa to be recognised. You would find people training in tennis but without proper education. Locally, our education had not been recognised because we did not meet certain criteria. The White level means now we are self sufficient on training our coaches. We do not have to rely on anyone to train our coaches. We currently have six tutors, in the south and north so through this we are hoping that we will see a number of local coaches getting the necessary coaching badges,” Thipe said. The White level is the least of the ITF coach education and Thipe said the federation has already set eyes on moving a level up in to the Bronze level.

He said the BTA will be sending Gaborone Club’s Petrus Molefe to Valencia, Spain to attain a level three coaching certificate, later this year.

“Coaching education is one of the areas we looked at, one of our coaches Petrus will attend a level three course in Spain.

This is in a way part of the journey to attain a Bronze coaching education. Through the knowledge he will acquire, he will be able to help us improve our coaching education,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thipe said a ban on local sports hampered the association’s strides in development.

“We are not only looking at coach education. Before the suspension of sports, we were focusing on development.

The Under-10s and so on. The junior players will be blessed with coaches that have knowledge approved by the ITF. From development we are looking in to participation. We had hosted a number of local tournament across the country and we were in the right direction before sports was banned,” he said.