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LOBAMBA – A Kenyan tennis expert who has been in the country for the Development of National Sports Structures (DNSS) is excited about the great strides taken by the country.
Oketch *eorge has been facilitating a three-week Olympic Solidarity '1SS programme for the (swatini Tennis Association (TA staged at the (swatini Olympic and Commonwealth *ames Association (OC*A at /obamba. The training started on March and will end with the awarding of certficates this week.
“What the association has done by training coaches will have a huge impact on the level of players who will be trained from now onwards. We have empowered the coaches with their career and they have the right knowledge to improve their game after the course. I also see the facility has been improved. This is good as they can now host an international event easily, which for me is a huge milestone for the country,´ said *eorge.
The trained coaches are expected to receive level one coaching certificates. The highest qualified coaches hold level two coaching certificates. The expert also believed they would soon upgrade to level three. +e promised that the programme will be reviewed to see if it benefitted the country.
“I believe that once you train people, you need to get them to practise so to also guide and advise them on how they can improve their sessions. This is what we have been doing today Saturday . +owever, I have noticed that they have become better from what I saw the first time I was here. They are able to teach the right way in terms of the strategy, tactics of the game and a bit of technique,´ narrated the visiting tennis expert.
The objective of the programme is to allow the 1ational Olympic Committees 1OC develop their national sports and coaching structures by implementing a mid to long-term action plan for a specific sports on the Olympic programme. It is believed that development of sport in certain countries is often hindered by disorganised or non-existent coaching structures. On the Saturday, a tennis festival event acted as the trainees’ practical session.
Meanwhile, (OC*A Marketing and Communication Officer Mkhulisi 'lamini thanked the Olympic Solidarity for the programme. 'lamini said the country would be soon reaping the fruits.
“We are happy on the success of the programme and hope it is still yet to benefit most of our associations. We would like thank *eorge for his time and dedication in sharing his knowledge with our coordinators. +e has seen them exerting the skills he gave them in the festival and we believe our coaches will now impact the right knowledge and skills to the players to help them meet international tennis standard,´ stated 'lamini.