TSA commits to development

Tennis South Africa (TSA) and BNP Paribas have announced the continued sponsorship of the third annual BNP Paribas Coaches Mentorship Programme, which aims to widen the diversity of registered tennis coaches in South Africa.

The good-news announcement is a welcome development as the world continues to adapt during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has put most sporting initiatives and events on hold indefinitely.

The programme seeks to equip South Africans, particularly those from historically disadvantaged communities, with coaching skills and licences, in an effort to develop the sport in all South African communities. More than 140 coaches have benefited from the programme since its inception, which included 45 recruits in 2018, 44 per cent of whom were women and 96 recruits in 2019.

The third iteration of the programme will continue its increasingly strong female-empowerment focus, with 53 per cent of female candidates in its third year also.

Thanking BNP Paribas for their support, Tennis SA CEO Richard Glover said: “BNP Paribas is committed to growing local tennis and making our sport more accessible to all communities in South Africa, especially with the development of coaches nationally, in particular our female coaches.”

Vikas Khandelwal, head of the territory for BNP Paribas in South Africa said: “For more than 45 years, BNP Paribas has supported tennis, aiming to strengthen the sport at local and international levels across both amateur and professional tiers.

“We are proud to continue our support to this mentorship programme despite the current pandemic situation and provide hope and opportunities for both players and coaches”. With the country under lockdown as a result of Covid-19, the programme will kick-start with an online e-learning programme that focuses on coaching competencies, life skills and personal development. “We are pleased that the coaching and mentorship programme can continue remotely for now and confident that tennis in the country will adapt and mature until normality resumes once again.” said Regan Adams, CEO of RCS.

The remote programme will give coaches access to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Academy, which is an online education platform offering a variety of short courses – ranging from general sport to tennis-specific topics.
The coaches will also have access to ITF iCoach – the official library which contains high-quality videos from conferences around the world, articles as well as scientific research.

Additional measures have been put into place to address challenges related to internet access, with each coach provided with data for the duration of the e-learning programme.

The BNP Paribas Coaches Mentorship Programme is part of a larger partnership between BNP Paribas and Tennis SA that seeks to boost transformation within the sport nationally.