Develop future tennis stars

Local residents Tsholofelo Sibanda and coach Kgotso Matshego will be attending the sixth International Tennis Federation (ITF) Johan Cruyff Africa Junior Camp to be held from 28 September until 1 October at the Ellis Park Tennis Stadium in Johannesburg.

Bongani Dhlamini will however attend the performance players camp from 2 until 3 October.

The ITF sanctioned camp serves as a catalyst to develop future stars on the continent and will be led by the national coach Matshego along with other coaches from South Africa, Egypt and Tanzania who will accompany their charges to this spectacle.

The camp is designed to both improve the level of play of the participants, and gives a glimpse into the future prospects of wheelchair tennis in Africa. The coaching camp will focus primarily on tactics and advanced mobility drills, and the tournament will determine which nation and which junior is earmarked as Africa’s next top talent. Both the camp and tournament will run concurrently with a coaches’ conference where coaches can exchange ideas and gain knowledge,

”The Johan Cruyff Africa Junior Camps have been instrumental in providing opportunities for top junior players to be identified and be fast-tracked. Kgothatso Montjane, Lucas Sithole, Evans Maripa and Thato Tsomole, all 2013 SA Sport Awards winners, have been part of this remarkable initiative,” explained Matshego.

Siyabulela Nkachela, Wheelchair Tennis SA Africa Junior Camp director, also in formed that, “The camps are not only designed to benefit the top junior players, but will give talented players identified at the regional camps the opportunity to rub shoulders with the top junior players and ensure that in time they are among the best in South Africa and the world.”