Is Tennis in this Country Going Down the Drain

It's such a pity that a great sport like tennis is in the 'crap' in this country. There really isn't anything that's positive. Where have all the Coaches gone?, this week I was in Thames and we went to have some Fish and Chips, and were served by Andrew Beattie , once a top Kiwi Tennis player and an excellent coach, why would he prefer Fish to Tennis ?. Obviously Andrew is not the only loss,where is Chris Lewis, David Lewis?, the list goes on.

The reason is obvious, incompetent leadership from NZ Tennis, incompetent people being replaced by equally incompetents.  These people are funded by Clubs and their members throughout NZ, why aren't the clubs and members vocal, why aren't more Coaches more vocal, lack of courage is the reason.  There are" many brown noses "that see the in competencies but will not speak up in fear they might loose some small favours that NZ Tennis dishes out.

All over the country we see really good coaches being victimised by Administrators both at Club level and Provincial level, coaches with criminal convictions have been employed at some clubs and endorsed by NZ Tennis. Just how many Coaches are registered?, how many unregistered Coaches are given work by NZ Tennis ?, what is the point in being registered, besides a discount on Addidas sunglasses .

There is not one NZ born player in the top 300 in the world, why? What does NZ Tennis do to help Coaches?, nothing! Now enough of the negativity , help is at hand with the formation of a new Coaches organisation, new in NZ, but well established in Australia, and well respected a breath of fresh air to all Coaches in this country, enthusiastic men and women who love the game, and who are determined to resurrect the Sport in NZ, Look up the Web Site and you will see there is hope,  An optermistic Coach,

*this was submitted by a passionate tennis coach *

Life not Easy Outside the Top 100 Male Tennis Players

I'm a professional tennis player. I live in Melbourne and my world ranking is 256. I returned home yesterday from the US Open, where I was the first alternate for the qualifying draw. Had I made it, my prizemoney would have covered my flights, and maybe a couple of nights in the hotel. Instead, I have just added another hefty amount to my bloated credit card bill.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/diminishing-returns-when-you-play-in-the-red-zone-20120827-24wmm.html#ixzz24mn48CFO

Great story above on what life is like for most of the tennis players on the Tour.Check it out!

Do New Zealand readers watch the TV show the Block? former National Ranked junior Sarah Adams appears with her partner as one of the teams!!!

New Zealander 's may remember Russian Junior Tanya Somodelok,she was in New Zealand for long periods around the age of 10 and eleven she showed great maturity in her game at a very young age.New Zealand tried very hard to get her citizenship.In a women's event in MEXICO last week she came up against New Zealand Junior Emily Fanning, both girls are around the same age the Russian slightly older.Somodelok has played very few Junior ITF's whilst Fanning has played more than her fair share. So it was with interest the result for comparison..the Russian winning a second round match 7/5 6/1.This was a 10,000.00 Women's event.Somodelok was beaten in her next match.She has a career high ranking of 1142.

No qualifying was held so if you are looking for some events to get an easy berth to the Maindraw look at Mexico.The eventual winner was around 480 in the world.

The Best Kept Secret In New Zealand Tennis was let out of the bag yesterday.

 A Statement from the CEO of the Australasian Academy of Tennis Coaches

 My name is Lynton Joseph and my current role is that of CEO of the Australasian Academy of Tennis Coaches Pty Ltd. Our headquarters are located in Melbourne, Australia and we have been working closely with some well respected High Performance Coaches in Mr Stephen Dries and Mr Michael Mooney. We have been meeting three times a week through Skype as well as through email and telephone. This has all culminated in a visit to Christchurch this month to finalise AATC’s move into New Zealand to work with current coaches as well as provide an educational opportunity to for trainee and aspiring coaches. We currently have close to 150 members in Australia as well as Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Singapore. We deliver courses Australia wide as well as in Asia and working with New Zealand only gives both countries an opportunity to network and develop tennis in our respective communities. Stephen Dries and Mike Mooney are both New Zealand based and are more than qualified to deliver our Level O, Level 1 and Level 2 Tennis Coach certification courses on behalf of the AATC. They are both current Level 3 Elite Professional Coaches with the AATC and are held in the highest regard. Onny Parun, former Australia Open finalist and arguably New Zealand’s greatest tennis player has come on board as the patron in New Zealand. This time should be seen as an exciting time for New Zealand tennis. The market is being deregulated and potential coaches are given the option to make a choice. I am personally flying into New Zealand to work with Stephen and Michael as they set up this company. We have set up an open forum with the coaches in New Zealand to listen to the their issues in order to meet their ongoing needs. The AATC in New Zealand will be independently administered by an independant New Zealand Board. Of this, two members will be eligible to sit on the AATC Board in Australia .

 New Zealand Great Onny Parun is our Patron in New Zealand and he had this to say "This new group of independant coaches was formed due to the lack of support and protection from NZT. As Patron I applaud this brave stance and wish them the best of luck in this new endeavour.----Onny Parun

This Independent group was formed to raise the standards in coaching qualifications and unite tennis coaches so they have a voice in their industry something that has been lacking here in New Zealand. You make up your mind which supermarket you shop at and its your choice where you shop at no one has the right to dictate and now with the AATC there is a choice,competition is healthy and as we are all working for the common goal to foster tennis an Independent Coaches group is vital.

CHECK OUT THE AATC WEBSITE WITH THE NEW ZEALAND SITE PENDING CLICK HERE

Tennis Turmoil

This story was sent to me by Clem and Mike who spent three months researching .Email trails and a very damming voice tape of a meeting was obtained.I have posted it simply to show the lack of ethics and professionalism that is surfacing in the coaching world and the admin departments in charge of running the game.Below is their researched story of events.

This story begins in two very different places at opposite ends of the world A sleepy town in Central North Island called Taupo and New York City USA

Mark an American Coach apparently was the answer to a prayer from a tired Club president and a sleepy program in need of CPR.She wanted to hand on the coaching duties. Mark had just sent out several hundred CVs around the world from his New York base of his national Academy, looking for someone to bite and bite they did.

The CV we are not sure ended up in Auckland passed on to someone in tennis circles who passed it on to Waikato Bays Tennis CEO. She knowing of the soon to be freeTaupo position passed it on to her friend the President of the Taupo club. All seemed Ok!

The two were life time friends and together they contemplated Mark 's surreal CV He seemed to be to good to be true and in keeping with that adage he was.

It appeared Mark was a conman had a criminal record and had an ego almost as large as his fraudulent CV. Mark had sparkling qualifications which to anyone familiar and remotely acquanted with the game should run up the red lights.

However this was so good that the President and CEO neglected to tell the committee at Taupo what they were doing.Correspondence clearly shows no communication or authorisation appears to have been given Clearly this was a surprise such a coup for Taupo and Waikato Bays.

There was heavy email traffic between between Mark The President and CEO We have this traffic courtesy of Mark himself Marks PHD in sports science his Freshman tennis player of the year status in his conference and many glowing awards and University accreditations blinded the two to his poor diction and spelling in his flawed e mails

Mark got the position and there is no record of the position being advertised although this may have happened, it was not picked up. This is naturally a requirement of Immigration that the position must be advertised for a NZ resident coach. It appears most likely that his CV was vetted by the CEO of Waikato Bays and probably Coach Co Ordinator at NZ Tennis initially and then again later when the alarm went off.

Marks application was put through the New York office and would need support from TNZ and or Regional body and Taupo It also appears it may not have been the normal two year permit required under skilled Immigration as the contract was for only 6 months This to is a problem and Mark is not the only foreigner probably employed on an invalid tourist visa in this way.Nor is the the only unqualified foreign coach to get a top position here.

This all happened from July August 2011 Mark finally arrives late Oct /Nov 2011 A large article appears in the Taupo Paper announcing the arrival and how fortunate Taupo was to have someone who had a CV of such qualityThe club had set aside money a retainer of $1,000 per month. This very well may have been public money as the club would seem to be unable to finance a coach in this way.

It became apparent immediately on Marks arrival that something was very wrong Mark had erratic behaviour often putting his hand down his pants while in company

It became clear Mark could hardly play and he was being groomed for grass hopper tennis. It was confided to us that the previous coach had no qualification and it became more likely that neither did Mark.

Panic set in Mark worried his host and was jettisoned to another unsuspecting host who was later to send her kids out of town due to her justifiable fear of Mark and his erratic behaviour. Mark would wait up all night betting on American football games. His money went on gambling and had the drug oxycontin in his possesion ...a percription drug when the tablets are melted down and inhaled it is called Hill Billy Heroin.

We know this through correspondence passed on to us. It was clear to this person Mark was in need of serious help and was a compulsive liar. Marks new host believed at first Marks hard luck story how he was misunderstood and poorly treated He was not paid for work as outlined in his contract We have a copy This is actually true.

The CEO was asked to come and observe Mark She was along with The Coach CoOrdinator at TNZ the two most responsible for providing Marks unvetted ride into the country.

NZT Coach Co Ordinator said his CV seemed alright obviously no phone calls or emails were sent checking his CV. Waikato Bays CEO came and personally witnessed Mark give a lesson to an adult lady.

Finally it became obvious they had a dud and more important an embarrasment to them all. A criminal record was uncovered by a policeman and by his second host

Mark was sacked Then when it seemed it could not get worse it does

Read next week cover ups and pay offs

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Rain And More Rain in Timaru

Well tennis coaches must keep busy so I photoshopped this today ,let me say miserable weather in the South Island of New Zealand. I am putting up some story's on my blog over the next few days you could describe them with an old Movie Title , Sex , Lies And Video Tape ....well the Lies and the videotapes are correct :)

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Serena Adds Singles Olympic Gold

The Serena show rolls on!

"I always wanted to win a gold medal (in singles) secretly," she said Saturday shortly after dismissing Russian Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 on the same grass where she won the Wimbledon title last month, "and I've always said it doesn't matter because I already have a gold medal (in doubles), and I really believe that. But deep, deep, deep, deep down I wanted it in singles as well."

This was the one major title that had been missing on her résumé. Williams owns 14 Grand Slam singles championships, the most of any active woman. She had won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with her sister Venus in 2000 and 2008, but not the gold in singles. She and Venus will play for a third doubles gold Sunday.

"It's such an amazing feeling. I got it," she said. "I can't compare. I have it, I have them all so it's great feeling."

The stage had been set for drama. The Olympic gold medal match. Williams vs. Sharapova.

The last time Sharapova defeated Williams in a singles final came at this court at the 2004 Wimbledon Championship final. Both players Saturday were chasing career golden slams, a sweep of the four major titles and an Olympic gold.Serna also won Gold with Sister Venus in the Ladies Doubles final.

Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/70889204.html#ixzz22camTGWq

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