In an effort to keep you informed and updated on ITF coaching matters worldwide, in this issue of the newsletter you will find:

* eLearning Presentations

* Development Events

* Olympic Solidarity - ITF Coaching Scholarship Programme - February Update

* Recent Coaching Courses

* Juniors

* ITF 18 & Under Junior Touring Team Programme for 2006

* ITF Publications

* News from National Associations and other Organisations

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

eLEARNING PRESENTATIONS

During the last month 2 more eLearning presentations have been added to the growing collection of presentations. There are currently 16 free presentations available on the ITF Coaching Webiste with the 2 latest being:

Momentum and Match Flow in Tennis by Alistair Higham

Tennis Racquets by Professor Rod Cross

 
To view the presentations please use the following link:

http://www.itftennis.com/coaching/practicalinfo/elearning.asp

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DEVELOPMENT EVENTS

6 January – 12 February: Central American & Caribbean Junior Touring Team to COSAT circuit, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

13 - 21 February: ITF/OS Level 1 Coaches Course - Kingstown, St Vincent & the Grenadines

18 February - 3 March: ITF Level 1 Coaches Course - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

21 - 24 February: ITF Play Tennis Course - Podgorica, Montenegro

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

OLYMPIC SOLIDARITY - ITF COACHING SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME:

FEBRUARY UPDATE

Wilfredo Henry (Cuba)

Es un honor para mí y para la Federación Cubana de Tenis poder participar en este curso de Nivel 3 que ofrece la ITF en coordinación con el Comité Olímpico Internacional a través de sus becas de Solidaridad Olímpica.

Durante las semanas que hemos trabajado es importante destacar la acogida que nos brinda la Academia Tenis Val que nos permite ser parte integrante de su entrenamiento con profesores de una gran experiencia que están abiertos a ofrecértela con mucha sinceridad. En mi caso el Prof Rafa (ex-entrenador de Marat Safin), Prof Vicente y el Preparador Físico David.

También como experiencia para mi es muy confortable poder observar la organización y métodos que emplean para el entrenamiento, así como poder ver entrenar a jugadores de la talla de Marat Safin, David Ferrer, Anabel Medina (etc.), como lo hacen y la intensidad que emplean mientras están en la cancha.

Tuvimos la oportunidad de ir al la Ciudad de Barcelona a junto a José Maria Pizá de la Federación Española de Tenis, visitar 3 centros de entrenamiento como el CAR, la Academia Catalana de Tenis y la Academia de Sánchez-Casal y poder observar sus métodos de organización y entrenamiento.

No quiero despedirme sin destacar el trabajo que a diario realizar con nosotros, el Prof. Miguel Crespo, la Señorita Tori Billington y Patrick McInerney. Quiero expresar también que este curso nos permite además socializar con colegas de la India, Siria y por supuesto de España.

Farah Dayoub (Syria)

The first three weeks of the OS/ITF Coaching Scholarship Programme were exciting and full of exploring; to a point where it actually made us overcome the unusual drop in temperature here in Valencia!

In TennisVal we met head coaches Pancho Alvarino and Jose Altur, the players and the coaches. We have spent our time getting familiar with their methods of training with different levels of players, from very promising juniors up to pros like David Ferrer and Anabel Medina. Gradually we started to work with some of the coaches (in my case they were Rafa, Pepe, and Sergio). We had also the chance to witness the coming back of Marat Safin after his knee injury and also the pleasure of watching him play!

In the ITF Level III Coaching Course we finished our first subject, Tactics, and passed the anxiety of the 1st exam! Now we are into Biomechanics with lots of information to understand and lots of challenges in applying them practically.

Our study location is the ITF Office, supervised and helped by Miguel Crespo, Patrick McInerney and Tori Billington.

The ITF designed a great programme for us, which has allowed us to accomplish two of the six visits in this programme, during the first 3 weeks. The first was to the “Institute de Biomecanica de Valencia” where we took a closer look at the higher level of technological equipment that can be used in evaluating and analysing the biomechanical aspects of athletic performance, equipment efficiency and the effect of climate.

Our second trip was to beautiful Barcelona where we took advantage of the visit by exploring the city as well! In Barcelona we visited the Spanish National High Performance Centre “CAR”, the Sanchez-Casal Academy and the Catalan Tennis Centre.

My personal exploring has also involved the city of Valencia, the Spanish language, making friends (in our residence, Petxina and TennisVal…) and building bonds with my wonderful colleagues, Henry from Cuba and my roommate Radhika from India.

Radhi Tulpule (India) – January Update

Hola from Spain, my name is Radhika Tulpule from Pune, India. I am here in Valencia, Spain on the OS/ITF Coaching Scholarship Programme. I arrived here on January 6, 2006, for the three-month course, which started on the January 9.

The programme consists of on court sessions as well as theoretical studies. The practical on court sessions are done at the TennisVal, the academy of Pancho Alvarino and Jose Altur; while the theory work and self study is done at the ITF Coaching headquarters in Valencia under the guidance of Miguel Crespo, the Research Officer in the department of Tennis Development and Patrick Mclnerney, the Assistant Research Officer, along with a lady officer, Tori Billington who has just joined the office. So at this point of time we are a female majority in the office!!!

Our hospitality at the Residence Petxina is excellent. It is a wonderful place to stay and study and its location is also ideal as it is just a 3 min walk to the ITF office and about 15 minutes to the city centre. The staff is very friendly and understanding especially with me due to the language barrier; but I have certainly picked up all the food names in Spanish for better and easier communication!!

Since I have been here, I was fortunate enough to watch practice sessions of Marat Safin who was training at TennisVal from day one! The other coaches at TennisVal who I got a chance to work with were Rafa, Sergio and Thomas. They are all very helpful and guide me and answer all my queries to make things easier for me and to help me better understand the Spanish way of teaching tennis!! Apart from Marat Safin, top players like Dinara Safina, David Ferrer, Anabel Medina just to name a few all practice at this academy. We have a daily schedule of working with the advanced players on court each morning and then we are back to the courts again in the afternoon for match charting and analysis three times per week and on the other days we are in the ITF office to do theory work on various topics such as tactics, biomechanics, teaching methodology, periodisation, strength and conditioning and physiology to name a few.

After a couple of weeks, once our daily routine was set, we had the first visit to the institute of biomechanics in Valencia. It was a good experience for me as I had never been to any such place before in my life!! Its amazing on what things people actually do research on…they were working on how walking can be made with less fatigue by using a specific type of flooring!!!

Our next visit was outside Valencia, in Barcelona where we got to visit a few tennis centres, including the Sanchez-Casal academy, the Spanish High Performance Training Centre “CAR” and the Catalan Tennis Centre. Mr. Jose-Maria was a wonderful host and the visit was very fruitful and informative.

It has most certainly been a very good trip so far with lot of study to do for the level 3 exams as well very good on court experience! As for now its back to the study books until the next article…!!!

Hasta luego!!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

RECENT COACHING COURSES

OS / ITF Level 1 Coaching Course - Karachi, Pakistan

By Kawaljeet Singh, ITF expert

The OS / ITF Level 1 coaches Course in Karachi, Pakistan was conducted between December 26, 2005 and January 3, 2006. The course was held in the Karachi Gymkhana Club and was attended by 21 coaches, 3 of which were female.

The ITF course tutor Kawaljeet Singh (India), was extremely happy the playing standard of the coaches and was pleased to see some young players as well as a veteran player, Mr Naeem Ullah participating in the course. ¨It was great to have Mr Naeem Ullah in the course and I think it was a real inspiration for some of the young coaches¨ commented Mr. Singh.

The closing ceremony was held at the Karachi Gymkhana Club and attended by Mr. Syed Hai, President Sindh Tennis Association and Major Abdul Rashid Khan, Secretary General Pakistan Federation. During this ceremony Mr. Singh extended his thanks to Mr. M. Khalid Rehmani, Secretary Sindh Tennis Association, who was the course director and ¨ensured everything was perfectly organised and did everything possible to ensure the course was ran smoothly.¨

CURSO OS LIMA - PERÚ

Comentarios del Tutor - Dr. David Sanz Rivas (Director Área Docencia e Investigación RFET - Escuela de Maestria de Tenis), España

Estimados amigos, una vez de vuelta a casa, tan sólo unas líneas para agradeceros la oportunidad que me habéis dado al realizar el curso en Perú. He conocido la realidad de los entrenadores de primera mano y he podido compartir con ellos muchas experiencias. La impresión que me llevo es muy buena, porque por las informaciones que me han pasado, el curso les ha resultado útil y los contenidos aportados parece ser que han estado acordes a las expectativas previas.

Como balance del curso, os puedo decir que durante las mañanas visité una o dos Academias de Tenis diarias, así como uno de los días la Escuela de Tenis en Silla de Ruedas de la Federación de Tenis de Perú. También tuve una reunión con el Presidente de la Federación y con diferentes directivos de las Academias y Clubes más importantes de Lima. Por las tardes el programa se desarrollaba de 16:30 a 20:30, realizándose normalmente dos horas de teoría y dos horas de práctica.

El último día se realizó la entrega de los diplomas del curso (de la ITF y del COP), estando presente el Presidente del COP y el Presidente y Vicepresidente de la FPT.

Curso Nivel 1 - Santiago, Chile

Por Miguel Miranda, ITF Development Officer, South America

En las excelentes instalaciones del Club Manquehue de la ciudad de Santiago de Chile, y bajo la organización de las Coordinadoras de la Federación de Tenis de Chile, Sra. Jimena Espinosa y Srta. Marcela Herrera, participaron de este Curso de Nivel 1 36 entrenadores, 4 de ellos provenientes de Argentina.

Los Tutores fueron el Profesor Richard González de Uruguay y el Oficial de Desarrollo para Sudamérica de la ITF - COSAT, Miguel Miranda.

A la ceremonia inaugural asistió el Presidente de la Confederación Sudamericana de Tenis Sr. Sergio Elías, que en su discurso destacó la importancia que la formación de entrenadores tiene para COSAT. Reconoció también el enorme esfuerzo que hacen los entrenadores por capacitarse y ser cada día mejores. También señaló que COSAT, las Federaciones Nacionales e ITF trabajan mancomunadamente en este tipo de proyectos.

A la ceremonia de clausura y entrega de certificados asistió el Vice Presidente de la FTCH, Sr. Roberto Solari que se comprometió a seguir con este tipo de iniciativa.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

JUNIORS

ITF West Africa 18 & Under Junior Circuit

The ITF West Africa 18 & Under Junior Circuit began with the Nigeria leg in Lagos from 2 – 6 January. Seven African nations sent teams to participate in the tournament, which also attracted players from Austria and India.

The boys’ singles was won by Henry Atseye (NGR) who defeated second seed Menford Owusu (GHA) 63 64 in the final. In the girls’ draw, Jeanine Prentner from Austria had no difficulty in taking the title, dropping only six games before defeating Ronke Akingbade (NGR)60 62 in the final. The Nigerian pairing of Sunday Emmanuel and Emmanuel Dickson took the boys’ doubles title, defeating top seeds Karim Hindolo (SLE) and Lukas Litzfellner (AUT) 61 16 64 in the final. Jeanine Prentner teamed up with Anahita Jagtiani (IND) to win the girls’ doubles 63 62 against the home nation pairing of Deborah Gbadamosi and Blessing Samuel.

The players then moved on to Cotonou, Benin for the second leg of the circuit, 8-12 January, where Menford Owusu was triumphant in the boys’ singles, defeating Jean Segodo (BEN) 61 64 in the final. The girls’ event was dominated again by Jeanine Prentner, who defeated her doubles partner Ninon Segodo (BEN) 60 63 in the final. However, the two combined to win the girls’ double title by defeating the Ghanaian team of Kate Coleman and Emma Kudjoe 60 62. The boys’ doubles final was a Ghanaian affair, with Emmanuel Mensah and his big-serving partner Michael Northey proving too powerful for their compatriots Menford Owusu and Albert Arthur, winning the title 36 76 62.

ITF/CAT African Junior Championships - Regional Qualifying

The second of two African Junior Championships (AJC) Regional Qualifying saw the host nation Tanzania winning the East and Southern Africa event at the Gymkhana Club in Dar Es Salaam, thanks to strong performances from Justin Joseph (Boys’ 14 & Under), Mkunde Iddy (Girls’ 14 & Under) and Neema Mathayo (Girls’ 16 & Under). Rwanda and Uganda came second and third respectively. Players competed in 14 & Under and 16 & Under categories to earn points for their respective countries, with the best three points results added together for each participating nation.

Prince Madema, ITF Development Officer for East Africa commented, “Credit should go to the Tanzania Lawn Tennis Association for improving their Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) 14 & Under development programme. The JTI in Tanzania is doing very well under the supervision of the two main coordinators.”

The event began on 6 January with a two-day training camp, overseen by Prince Madema and Sami Sidia, ITF Development Officers for East and Southern Africa respectively, followed by two three-day tournaments. A total of seven countries from the region participated in the event: Eritrea, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, Uganda and Tanzania.

The other qualifying event for West & Central African nations took place from 18th – 23rd December 2005 at the National Sports College of Winneba, in Ghana. Teams from Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon and Mali participated in the event and after five days of competition, Cote d’Ivoire lifted the team trophy.

“I would like to thank the tournament director, the referee and all the participating team coaches for their team work which made this event a big success,” said Amine Ben Makhlouf, ITF Development Officer for West & Central Africa. The two qualifying events are held every year for all African nations who do not receive a direct invitation to the main event of the African Junior Championships. The best players from the two qualifying events are invited to join an ITF team, which participates in the main event. Selected players travel as members of the ITF team, but represent their own countries at the competition. This year, the African Junior Championships will be held in Cairo, Egypt during the week of 10th April.

Success for Myanmar and ITF Junior Initiative

Aung Kyaw Niang of Myanmar recorded home success at the 14 & Under Junior Championships (Group 2) in Yangon from 7 – 17 January. Niang won the singles and doubles events in both boys’ tournaments, defeating the talented Malaysian Juan Santos in two high-quality singles finals. He also teamed with Aung Ko Oo to defeat the Vietnam pair of Le and Vo Le in tournament one, and the combination of Ashiq (Pakistan) and Karki (Nepal) in tournament two, respectively.

“A large number of the players in this competition were from the ITF assisted Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) programme,” said ITF development officer for Asia, Suresh Menon. “It is exciting to know that Niang was first exposed to tennis through this programme in a small town in upper Myanmar. His talent was discovered when he competed in the National mini-tennis competition in 2001. Since he had no access to tennis courts, TFM included him in the PTI program at the Myanmar Tennis Center in the capital Yangon. Through the efforts of TFM and through the JTI programme, A. K. Niang has been able to develop his tennis game to be the player that he is today.”

Myanmar’s girl’s team did not have it all their way though. In tournament one, Amreetha Muttiah (Sri Lanka) proved too good for Khing Nyein Thar (Myanmar), and in the doubles event, Huynh and Phan of Vietnam defeated Thar and Thandar Aung of Myanmar. Aung then recovered to win both the singles and doubles events in tournament two, defeating her compatriot Thar in the singles, and partnering Thar to beat the Malaysian pair of Ling Shio Ling and Chlo Wee Tan.

It was the second time in three years that the Tennis Federation of Myanmar (TFM) has hosted the event, and the championships received a great deal of support from the government of Myanmar as well as local sponsors. The TFM center, the venue for the championships, was full each day, largely due to TFM’s successful media promotion of the event. The championships consisted of two four-day tournaments. The feed-in consolation format was used for these championships, resulting in players from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar playing matches everyday. Points are awarded for each tournament and then added together at the end of the event to provide the final ranking, which determines who will qualify for the ITF Team (Group 2). The team will then participate in the next ITF development circuit (Group1) to be held in March/April at a venue to be announced.

Results for the championships are available at http://www.itftennis.com/development/.

Please find following links to the:

2006 ITF Junior Calendar (January - June) - Please take note of date and venue changes in USA, Korea and Thailand - http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/news/newsarticle.asp?id=15730

2006 ITF Junior Circuit Regulations - http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/circuit/regulations.asp

2006 ITF Junior Team Competition Regulations - http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/teamcompetitions/rules.asp

Hard copies of the Regulations will be sent to all National and Regional Associations shortly.

As always, please check the ITF Junior website regularly for updated information. www.itftennis.com/juniors

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ITF 18 & UNDER JUNIOR TOURING TEAM PROGRAMME FOR 2006

Memo from Dave Miley, Executive Director, Tennis Development

Over the last eleven years, the format of the ITF International Junior Team competing in Europe has proved to be very successful and we therefore intend to continue with this programme in 2006.  National Associations are therefore invited to apply for a place on this team on behalf of their most promising 18 & Under players.  

As in previous years, the ITF International Junior A Team in Europe will comprise of up to 16 players and four coaches, and will play the following schedule:

15 – 21 May                 28th Torneo Internazionale “Citta Di Santa Croce”

22 – 28 May                 47th Italian Junior Open, Milan

29 May – 3 June           42nd Astrid Bowl, Belgium

04 – 11 June                 International Junior Championships of France, Paris

14 - 16 June                  Queens Club Invitation (Boys)

                                                           and                 

13 – 18 June                 14th International Junior Tournament of Offenbach/Main (Girls)

19 – 23 June                 Training, London, UK (Boys) or Boys’ Invitational event (UK)

                                                           and

20 – 23 June                 Eastbourne Invitation (Girls)

25 – 30 June                 LTA International Junior Tennis Championships, Roehampton

01 – 09 July                  The Junior Championships, Wimbledon

International return airline tickets, rail/air tickets within Europe, coaching, basic lodging and meals will be provided by the ITF as in the past.

In order to be eligible for selection onto the ITF International Junior A Team, players should have achieved an ITF Junior World Combined Ranking at least within the top 40.  Priority will be given to younger players.

Applications will be considered upon receipt of the attached application form, correctly completed and signed by the National Association, and in consultation with the relevant Regional Association and ITF Development Officer.

Final team selection will take place by the end of March.  Any National Association who has NOT received a formal invitation from the ITF for their nominated player by mid-April must assume that that player has not been selected for the team.  No advice will be sent to the National Associations of players who are not selected.

Completed and signed application forms should be sent by the National Associations to be received in London by fax (44 20 8392 4742) or e-mail ( Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla ) by MONDAY 6th MARCH 2006 at the latest. 

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

We look forward to receiving your nominations.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ITF PUBLICATIONS 

ITF Publications Now Available

The latest editions of The ITF Year, Davis Cup Yearbook, and the Davis Cup and Fed Cup Media Guides are all now available for sale. An order form for all ITF publications, including prices, can be found on www.itftennis.com/abouttheitf/publications. The ITF Year 2005 (ISBN: 1-903013-29-1), edited by Mitzi Ingram Evans, is a comprehensive colour record of the ITF’s activities in 2005. This fifth edition of the ITF’s official yearbook contains features by leading tennis writers on the 2005 season; full results of Grand Slam tournaments, Davis and Fed Cup, ITF men’s and women’s professional circuits, ITF Junior Circuit, wheelchair tennis and ITF seniors tournaments; reports on the ITF’s development activities and the Technical Centre; historical records of major tournaments and biographies of the greatest players; and ITF World Champions, Board of Directors and useful ITF and tennis information.

The Davis Cup by BNP Paribas: The Year in Tennis 2005 (ISBN: 0-7893-1376-6), is a full-colour 128-page coffee-table book recording the 2005 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. It is written by the respected tennis journalist Chris Bowers, and includes interviews with some of the leading players, and photos from top tennis photographers around the world. New for this year are themed photo montages and ‘Player of the Round’ profiles, voted for by visitors to www.daviscup.com. Ivan Ljubicic was named Player of the Year, and was presented with the book in Melbourne at the Stara of the Australian Open. Photos can be viewed at www.daviscup.com, and media wanting a highresolution version should email Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text41935 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla .

The January 2006 booklet is also available to download in pdf format from www.itftennis.com/technical whilst hard copies are available upon request to the ITF Technical Centre, by email to Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text70100 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla .

México: Club La Huerta (Los Cabos). Necesita entrenador de tenis de alto nivel de juego, titulado, soltero, en buena forma física y con buena actitud. Dispuesto a vivir 1 año como mínimo en Los Cabos. Se ofrece transporte desde el área de México a Los Cabos, sueldo a convenir más clases particulares, excelente ambiente de trabajo y prestaciones de ley. Interesados contactar con el Sr. Ivan Sanchez < Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla > o a Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla .

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LINKS

ITF Coaching weblet: http://www.itftennis.com/coaching/

ITN weblet:  http://www.itftennis.com/itn/