Mosibodi Whitehead
Kevin Anderson’s run to the semi-finals at Wimbledon after a thrilling victory over Roger Federer this week has got the nation excited about tennis again.
The Johannesburg-born US-based Anderson is the first South African man to reach the last eight at the All England Club since Wayne Ferreira 24 years ago. And while we have celebrated our countryman’s achievement, we must ask if we will have to wait another quarter century to witness a South African – Zungu, Ntuli or Sereo – perhaps reach the business end at the All England Club.
According to the data supplied by Tennis South Africa (TSA) to the Eminent Persons Group for the 2016/2017 financial year, only 606 of the 13 710 primary schools in the country play tennis and most of them are private and former Model C schools.
The EPG Report, which monitors the progress of transformation in South African sport, found that just 17 township primary schools play tennis when the total number of township primary schools is over 6 000.
It is no wonder then that Anderson carries the tennis hopes of an entire nation.
There simply aren’t enough professional tennis players in South Africa because not enough primary school kids are being exposed to the sport.
But the winds of change are blowing in tennis with TSA taking significant steps to remedy the status quo. On 6 July Tennis South Africa (TSA) celebrated the opening of a new tennis development centre in the Pretoria township of Atteridgeville.
The development centre which is sponsored by GrowthPoint Properties and under the direction of TSA Development Manager Mpho Makhoba and modelled on the success of the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in Soweto.
Makhoba’s love for the sport spans almost three decades, having started as a passionate junior player in Atteridgeville to end up as a top international tennis umpire.
“I started playing, enjoyed playing and one day we had an exhibition match in which international players came to SA in the late nineties. I was watching my coach calling the lines and I just told myself that this this something that I’d like to do,” says Makhoba.
Because she understands some of the challenges that township kids face in making a life out of the sport, Makhoba was an obvious choice when Richard Glover took over TSA’s CEO position in September 2016 and was looking for someone to head up the organisation’s development arm.
The idea is to create a hub resourced with technical and administrative skills which acts as a centre of excellence to identify and train talented youngsters from surrounding schools.
“We are aware that a whole lot of schools that don’t play tennis. So we have selected a head coach for every single development centre including this one in Atteridgeville. The coach must then go around to all the surrounding clubs and schools to scout for talent and we can train them here,” says Makhoba.
The additional benefit of the hub is that because it has attracted corporate sponsorship from GrowthPoint Properties the most promising youngsters will be supported with coaching, equipment and transport to tournaments as they build their fledgling tennis careers.
This Atteridgeville hub will service the surrounding townships of Mamelodi, Hammanskraal and Atterdigevile itself. The approach is a simple one which has found success at Cricket South Africa. It’s an excellent step taken by Tennis South Africa which if applied correctly should pay dividends in the form of a South African Wimbledon winner from Atteridgeville, Mamelodi or Hammanskraal in ten to fifteen years’ time.
Whitehead is a sport broadcaster and writer.
