I am infuriated at the cost to succeed in tennis, Please take the time to read what is happening across the ditch, as Tennis New Zealand copy's most things it wont be long before this happens here.
Former Davis Cup player Richard Fromberg, now a private coach, agrees that the result of a flawed system is that the rich go further, while the poor stay home. ''I just think that the points-based system has to be strongly reviewed,'' says Fromberg. ''Not enough kids are getting the opportunity for this coming tournament, and the rankings are completely false, because the points-based system is encouraging kids to travel to remote places, and it's favouring the kids that are financially well-off that can afford to do so.''
Tennis Australia has changed its eligibility to National Junior Events. Read the article and uproar here , LINK
Is this growing the game?Distance is a huge problem in Australia and as you read the article juniors are cheating the system by entering Australian Money Tournaments to increase their ranking points to qualify for Nationals.
I will be adding my views to the release of TNZ High Performance program and the Elite Targeted Athlete , just need to think it through and weigh up CEO John's comments "But don’t expect immediate results says Johns who stresses that the new Targeted Athlete strategy is a long term plan saying “we are not expecting the four selected players to win every match they play from now on-wards as its about potential and how we can collectively harness that potential to ensure that they are the very best prepared to take on the rigors of a touring tennis professional" says Johns .Forgive me readers I am a little skeptical with these comments from the former Surf Life Saver.
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Wake up Steve!!, Tennis has always been an elitist Sport, especially in NZ, has anyone out side of Parnell and Remuera Tennis Clubs ever seen Steve Johns?
ReplyDeleteMy question is....Which is the most important time - helping solid/good juniors become professional players in that transition area of their career - 17-20 or helping kids at age 12-15?
ReplyDeleteNew Zealand generally has good juniors at 12's and 14's level, but trying to get someone from their first ranking point to 300 in the world is very difficult and so many of our best juniors fail.
So what is the most important part of the career?
You have a very valid comment. And I will do a blog post on this , I certainly think that 12-15 to early for major development funding. Reading quickly over the new pathway
Deleteits very much a slap in the face to the older juniors.More on this soon.