Gleeful cheers and wallops of joy rang out as roughly 20 children took to the tennis courts at Sandton Sports Club, most for the first time ever.
Next Generation Tennis was entering its 10th week of a training programme designed for children from disadvantaged backgrounds – the BNP Paribas RCS Rising Star Tennis.
Some youngsters aged between seven and 15 took up rackets for the first time, joining the programme that day.
They attend schools in Alexandra, Lombardy East and Modderfontein, many of which have just one tennis court or none at all.
For coaches Ndu Ncube and Hope Mathopa, the challenge of teaching tennis to brand new players was a joy in itself, as they saw more and more players sign up each week and improve their game quickly.
“We started this programme 10 weeks ago and it has gone from strength to strength,” Ncube said.
“We started with 10 children and now we have 38 players on our books. The children are all enjoying it. We as coaches are enjoying it as well.”
He said most of the children have not played tennis before so they have had to work on ball skills, understanding of the game, and the basics of tennis.
The training programme is being held in preparation for the Rising Star Tennis Tournament in March, which aims to encourage participation in tennis among youngsters.
Ncube hopes some of these players will play in this tournament with confidence having learnt what they need to at the training programme.
For Mathopa, who coaches in Alexandra, this programme helps teach the children disciplines of punctuality and consideration for others.
“For many years I wanted to put children from Alex in tournaments, so I am excited about that,” he said.
“Next year we will put a few of them in the tournaments and they will get the experience of tennis and the rules and so forth.”
He believes some of these players have the potential to go on and play professionally if they get sponsors.
Details: Next Generation Tennis 079 828 9624.
