Tennis SA shows Growthpoint
Terry delighted at joining Villa New sponsor will help federation with development and to concentrate on the ‘sexy’ stuff
LONDON: Former Chelsea and England captain John Terry has joined Championship side Aston Villa on a one-year deal, the club confirmed on its website yesterday.
“I am delighted to join Aston Villa,” Terry told the Villa website. “It’s a club I have admired from afar for many years. There are fantastic facilities at Bodymoor Heath, Villa Park is one of the finest stadiums in the country, and there’s a good group of players here, with an experienced and successful manager in Steve Bruce.
“I can’t wait to get started now and look to help the squad achieve something special this season.”
Terry became a free agent at the weekend after 22 years at Stamford Bridge where he played his entire career in the Premier League.But, despite interest from West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City and Bournemouth, he has been persuaded to drop down to England’s second tier by Villa manager Bruce.
Villa were relegated from the Premier League in 2016 and failed to gain instant promotion finishing a disappointing 13th last season.
But they are among the favourites to go up next season.
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s packed pre-season schedule with seven matches to be played in a little over two weeks will boost players’ fitness and prepare them for the start of the 2017-18 campaign, defender Phil Jones has said.
United, who finished sixth last season, start their preseason fixtures with a fivematch tour of the US where they face Los Angeles Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The Europa League winners will then go to Norwegian side Valerenga in Oslo before a trip to Ireland where they’ll face play Italy’s Sampdoria.
“The more matches you play, the more match-fit you are and seven games will give everyone a chance to get minutes under their belts. You need everyone at a good level for the start of the season,” Jones said on the club’s official website. (www. manutd.com)
Jones says coach Jose Mourinho will have every detail of the tour planned out.
“We know exactly what the manager expects from us. He’ll have organised this preseason period exactly how he wants it – when we’ll train, when we’ll rest and when we’ll have commercial work to do,” Jones said. After their pre-season run, United take on Champions League winners Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup in Macedonia on August. 8. – Reuters
SOUTH African tennis development will receive a boost after Growthpoint was revealed as the national federation’s headline sponsor.
The initial, two-year sponsorship, will focus on tennis development, club tennis and junior tennis, Tennis South Africa’s (TSA) chief executive, Richard Glover, announced yesterday.
“Their (Growthpoint) backing is a massive endorsement of the new positive energy flowing through our federation,” Glover said.
“Growthpoint understands that for a sport to thrive, investment is first needed in the foundations – hence their focus on development, clubs and juniors.
“With Growthpoint’s support, the sleeping giant that is tennis in South Africa is starting to stir.”
The cash injection from the property group would fund, among others, TSA’s new transformation and development plan. This includes the introduction of three new centres of development excellence and the creation of a national development squad.
Growthpoint will have naming rights to the TSA junior tournaments and the new National Club Championships.
The National Club Championships will consist of 14 regional events across the country and a national grand final based on a doubles tennis format for men and women.
Glover said although Growthpoint was the mainline sponsor, it was not an exclusive agreement, allowing other corporates to partner with TSA.
“Growthpoint are happy for us to bring in other sponsors, so we’ve got another sponsor in the pipeline from a high-performance tennis perspective,” Glover said.
“High-performance is a big priority for us and we are really looking at tennis from three aspects: Interest, high-performance and participation.”
Glover said TSA were making progress on the elite side of the sport, where they were in the early stages of planning for a national tennis centre.
He said the money would be allocated to tennis development, junior tennis, and the club tournament, while some funds would be used for admin- istrative use.
“It is exciting because it means we can now invest in our foundation and now we can start focusing on the sexier stuff, like bringing international tennis to South Africa,” Glover said.
“This is now our fifth sponsor we’ve brought in since the start of (the year) and this is by far the biggest.
“It is good in these tough times where a lot of people are struggling find sponsors.”