Tennis Cambodia achieves Coach Education milestone
Tennis Cambodia has been awarded white level status within the ITF’s Recognition of Coach Education Systems programme – a milestone moment for the development of the sport in the nation as it continues its recovery from the horrors of the past.
The award of white level status follows the successful staging of an ITF/OS Regional Coaches Beginner and Intermediate Players Course in the nation on 1-12 August, which involved eight male and five female candidates from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Fiji and Timor-Leste.
The purpose of the course was to develop existing national tutors, help build the coach education system within these nations and allow them to apply for ITF recognition.
Cambodia’s award of white status means they are able to conduct ITF Play Tennis Courses independently under a formalised structure which can help attract further funding for the development of the sport.
“It is a great honour that Tennis Cambodia achieved white level in the ITF Recognition of Coach Education System programme,” said Rithi Tep, Tennis Cambodia’s long-standing General Secretary.
“The course was a total success despite a slight lack of proper command of English from a minority of our coaches, but they’ve clearly understood the fundamentals and the opportunities of the system provided by ITF.
“Our coaches have fully embraced the empowerment that these courses have provided to our federation. We would like to commend the relentless mentoring from ITF Development Officers Jonathan Stubbs, Amir Borghei and Gary Purcell on pushing our coaches towards a new dimension. We all look forward to applying these teachings in our federation.”
The approval marks a particularly significant moment for tennis in Cambodia, which was eradicated during the genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.
Up to two million people died (around 25% of Cambodia’s population), including the majority of the nation’s registered national tennis players, and all tennis courts and equipment were destroyed.
The tennis federation was officially re-established in 1994 and the sport came back to life under the slogan ‘From Killing Fields to Tennis Courts’, focussing on grass roots and striving to use the sport to make a positive impact on people’s lives well beyond the court.
Tennis Cambodia returned to international competition in 1997, made its Davis Cup debut in 2012, and has since put rackets in the hands of thousands of children through grass roots programming in schools and orphanages.
The Federation’s outstanding efforts were recognised by the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017, when Tennis Cambodia was awarded the inaugural ITHF Global Organisation of Distinction Award.