Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Tennis Association (STA) ended 2024 with a successful organisation of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) level 1 tennis coaching course for beginners and intermediates.
The six-day course was conducted by STA and the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia in collaboration with TC-Sports on December 4-9 2024 at the Likas Sports Complex.
Tennis Malaysia Officer who is also the Director of Coaches Education Malaysia, Zulkhairi Mohd Khir together with Simon Tiong, were the tutors for this coaching course.
A total of 16 participants from all over Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore participated in the course.
Female coach from Brunei, Melanie Lau, aspires to continue and complete this tennis coaching course at the highest level in order to fulfil the ITF mission in “gender equality.”
The youngest participant from Sabah, Shan Danial, who is 18 years old, has also successfully obtained an ITF Level 1 tennis coaching licence.
He was thrilled with his achievement but still felt that the field of tennis coaching was very challenging.
He felt that there were still many things to learn, especially in the latest methodology implemented by foreign countries, which has proven to have succeeded in producing successful tennis athletes in a short time.
“To delve into and learn this field is not easy, but it is very fun,” he added.
The closing ceremony and presentation of attendance certificates was officiated by STA President Johnson Koh.
Koh encouraged all coaches to keep up with the latest methodology of tennis coaching to produce potential players.
STA Liason Officer Claire Godon, who is also a women’s tennis coach in Sabah, said she was very proud of the support and participation of tennis coaches this time.
“We have a lot of local coaches attending the course, which we hope will help them gain more knowledge in the latest tennis coaching.
“We hope this new knowledge will enable them to produce more promising players that will represent Sabah in the future,” she said.
Before this, Claire was nominated by Tennis Malaysia to attend the Level 2 (Coaching Advanced Player) (ITF/CAP) tennis coaching course under the ITF gender equality and junior tennis initiative (ITF/JTI) programme.
The courses are organised by the International Tennis Federation in collaboration with Olympic Solidarity last September in Kuala Lumpur, led by Jonathan Stubbs, ITF Development Officer for Asia.
She said that the opportunities offered by the ITF through Tennis Malaysia are numerous, and every coach deserves the opportunity to gain knowledge in order to elevate tennis in Malaysia.
She also hopes that STA will continue to organise the coaching course from time to time so that tennis enthusiasts will have the opportunity to learn the correct technique to jointly develop tennis in Malaysia, especially in Sabah.
