 Photographer: Suresh Menon
Date: 23 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Suresh Menon
Date: 23 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Suresh Menon
Date: 23 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Suresh Menon
Date: 23 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Suresh Menon
Date: 23 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Suresh Menon
Date: 23 Jul 2009 |
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| 23 Jul 2009 - Suresh Menon | |
| ITF Central Asian Training Camp, Uzbekistan |
Following the success of the inaugural Central Asian Training camp held in Uzbekistan last year, a second training camp for the Central Asian region was organized by the ITF in partnership with the Uzbekistan Tennis Federation from 3 – 13 July 2009.
The training camp was held at the Olympic Tennis School in Tashkent - a 24 court facility with clay courts and indoor courts. Approximately 40 participants from the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and host nation Uzbekistan took part in the training camp. Suresh Menon, ITF Development Officer for Asia and Shukhrat Kayumov, former Junior Tennis Initiative coordinator (JTI) for Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, conducted the training camp which was divided into five days of intensive training followed by four days of competition.
Each of the training days focused on one of the five game situations in tennis. On the first day of the camp, following an initial warm-up which included dynamic stretching and some games, the players were then put into groups according to their playing level in order to ensure that the sessions were effective and challenging. The coaches from the participating nations were also each assigned to a court and were then responsible for keeping the players active throughout the sessions by showing them different drills. If a player showed improvement and determination they were then moved up to a higher group or vice versa.
In order to avoid the midday temperature of more than 30 degrees and also to give the participants adequate time to rest, the afternoon sessions did not start until 16:30hrs. The afternoon sessions focused more on tactical training and match play situations.
The camp proved to be very successful and there were positive comments from many of the coaches who attended the camp:
Tatyana Barzasekova, from Turkmenistan said: “Normally the kids do not look forward to physical conditioning sessions, but in this case they enjoyed them tremendously. Each session was different and the kids always had something new to look forward to.”
Arytom Ostapenko from Kazakhstan said: “One of the most enjoyable aspects of the training program was the morning warming up sessions when the juniors were challenged with agility ladder drills and a variety of coordination exercises using cones, hoops and different balls. The juniors were given a variety of exercises using this equipment to improve their coordination skills. They improved their coordination skills and had a lot of fun doing it”.
During the last four days of the training camp a tournament was organized for all the players including boys aged 14 & Under from the Olympic Tennis School. The training camp participants did well against their older and more experienced opponents and even won the boys’ doubles title. The top 3 boys’ and girls’ singles players and the doubles finalist were awarded prizes provided by the Uzbekistan Tennis Federation and the ITF.
Samuk Abidov, Director of the Olympic School was full of praise for the training camp: “The coaches were given the opportunity to be more creative in their coaching. They were able to use equipment such as thrown down lines and air zone nets, which are not available in Central Asia, to make the training sessions more enriching. It was a wonderful and unique opportunity for both the players and coaches to be exposed to modern methods of training. The best part of it is that despite the intensive sessions which could be quite exhausting; the participants remained enthusiastic and motivated and kept up the energy for the duration of the camp. I also liked the format of the tournament and in future I plan to use the feed- in consolation system for the junior event here.”
The camp also proved to be a real eye opener for those who attended and some of the parents and coaches are hopeful that the ITF will organize similar camps in their respective countries.
Commenting on the success of the training camp, ITF Expert, Suresh Menon said: “Despite the rigorous training that the kids were put through, they seem to enjoy every moment of it and were all smiles at the end of the day. More importantly they seemed to appreciate the training and kept saying that they were looking forward to the next session which is very rewarding for the ITF experts”.
Uzbekistan being one of the most developed tennis nations in Central Asia plays a pivotal role in tennis development in the region. Igor Shepelev, General Secretary of the Uzbekistan Tennis Federation was grateful to the ITF for organizing this project in Uzbekistan. “Such a camp allows the coaches and players to be exposed to better training techniques and to identify talented players. Uzbekistan is always ready to be a partner with the ITF to help develop tennis in the Central Asian Region”.
The ITF is now looking forward to organizing a training camp in the South Asian Region in 2010.
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