20 SK Api-Api students selected for ITF programme
Published on: Friday, December 15, 2023
By: Wu Vui Tek
(From seventh to fifth, right) Hafiz, Claire and Sarimah along with the teachers and pupils during the launch of the basic tennis development programme.
Kota Kinabalu: Sekolah Kebangsaan Api-Api Kota Kinabalu has selected 20 pupils to undergo the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tennis initiative (JTI) programme to identify potential players.
Its Headmaster, Mohd Hafiz Zuraimy Damsah, said the programme is conducted in collaboration between the school and TC Tennis Camp.
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“We are introducing the basic foundation of tennis to provide exposure to the pupils as part of our efforts to cultivate the game in the school,” said Hafiz during the launch of the programme held at the school.
“Although tennis is relatively new to the school’s sports repertoire, it adds diversity to its disciplines.
“The common sports in the school that the pupils are involved in are handball, football, netball, and others, including golf,” he said.
In their commitment to nurturing well-rounded pupils, he said tennis has been introduced as a discipline at the school level.
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“I am confident that parents will actively support this programme to ensure its success. Pupils from year one to four have been selected for this initiative based on their keen interest and recommendations from teachers and parents,” he said.
The objective of incorporating tennis into the school’s sports discipline is to enable pupils who undergo intensive training to represent the school at various levels, including district, state, national, and even international competitions, he said.
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“We believe that these selected pupils, having a solid foundational understanding of tennis, will excel in the sport,” he said.
Looking at the school’s sports achievements, particularly in golf, they have already produced a pupil who secured first place in 2022 at the national level in MSSM (Malaysia School Sports Council).
“The gold medal at MSSM in 2022 was a testament to our school’s prowess in sports,” he said.
TC Tennis Camp coach Claire Godon, who oversees the tennis basic development foundation, said the programme was introduced to groom tennis potential enthusiasts aged five to 14 years old.
Claire said she was appointed to run the programme in Sabah starting in January 2022 to search for potential talents.
She is one of the 23 designated JTI coaches appointed by the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia nationwide via the Lawn Sabah Tennis Association to conduct the programme in schools.
The programme focuses on imparting five fundamental tennis techniques: forehand, backhand, serve, forehand volley, and backhand volley, she said.
The school was established in 2015, and initially, sports were not introduced by the teachers; instead, parents took the initiative to enrol their children in sports clubs, said Physical Education teacher Sarimah Onong.
“Beginning this year, I have developed the tennis programme for the pupils. Given their young age, they have ample time to learn,” said Sarimah, who also holds an ITF licence.
While the school has excelled in golf, it was mainly driven by parental encouragement, she said, adding that now the school is actively focusing on sports.
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