Inside the ITF Pacific Oceania Training Centre

The ITF Pacific Oceania Training Centre in Lautoka, Fiji is an important part of the ITF's strategy for developing the game in the Pacific.

"My dream is to become a famous tennis player," 12-year-old Roselyn Tupuola says with just the hint of smile on her face. She is one of nine players at the centre, who combine training with studying as they look to maximise their chances of "making it" as one of the game's future stars.

But, knowing that only a handful will ever be talented and fortunate enough to reach the summit of the tennis mountain, it's important to achieve a good balance between sport and school.

"They have got online schooling, so we are able to train more than they would when are at home," Gary Pucell, the ITF's development officer for the Pacific region, says. "We really give them more opportunities than they would usually get."

Opened in the mid-2000s, the centre has been gradually improving the standard of tennis throughout the region. Coach Tebatibunga Tito Bira, who hails from the tiny island nation of Kiribati, was a student at the centre in the early 2010s before moving to the United States to play two years of college tennis. He is now back at the centre in Fiji working as an assistant coach and work towards his coaching badges.

Bira is an excellent example of a player-turned-coach committed to helping tennis in the Pacific. But the centre is also aiming to send players to the very highest levels of the game.

"The ITF wants to develop players that are competing on an international level," the centre's head coach, Roxanne Clarke, explains. "That can filter into the ITF and Grand Slam Development Fund teams, and perhaps go beyond that and become ranked within the WTA or ATP one day."

As tough as that challenge may be, it seems that the Fiji centre is on its way to making that a reality.