All ends well
Tennis Coach Saga
Minister of Sports Dayasiri Jayasekara and the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) reached an amicable agreement yesterday to continue with the coaching programme run by the Dutch Coach Eric Pietersz, with the Minister promising his continued support towards it.
The Minister met the SLTA officials yesterday, before meeting parents whose children currently train under Pietersz, to end an issue that began last October, when the SLTA had said it would terminate the services of the Dutchman, citing a lack of results.
The programme was then extended by six months, with the Minister contributing almost a quarter of the coach’s salary, and with that period ending this week the SLTA was keen to end its contract with Pietersz.
Jayasekara had also said he would appoint a Ministry official to supervise the programme and address any concerns from the parents in future.
An SLTA official confirmed the decision and said that while the Minister understood the association’s concerns regarding Pietersz, he had asked for the programme to continue.
“Though this programme is not in the strategic interest of the SLTA, we decided to continue with it on the request of the Minister.we will allow him to continue using SLTA facilities and we will guarantee his salary of US $4,500. But we will consider his contract to be terminated as of next week, and this will run as a side programme of the association till January 2018 when his original two-year contract ends,”vice-president of the SLTA Sohan Patrick told the .
“It will continue as is, with the Minister contributing Rs. 200,000 towards Pietersz’s salary, and the parents paying 25 percent more as fees, with the rest of the cost being borne by the SLTA,” he said. Parents are already contributing 60 percent of Pietersz’s salary.
“He extended his support to the SLTA and was understanding and impartial.the decision was amicable, after discussing the issues we had,” President of the SLTA Iqbal Bin Issack told the
.
The also learns that the Minister has promised parents that he would facilitate Pietersz with an assistant, and that steps would be taken to promote the programme to ensure the maximum benefit.