RI failing due to poor tourneys, coaches

The lack of motivation of most Indonesian tennis coaches to teach and train, especially for young talent, is another challenge for the nation in developing the sport, in addition to the perennial issue of low funding and support from government.

A potential talent in any sports needs decent practice and participation in more tournaments to sharpen basic physical and mental skills.

However, tennis remains a niche sport unlike badminton or soccer, thus hampering government sponsorship of more tennis championships.

Junior tennis players needs to compete in five grades of tournament, ranging from grade 4 matches to grand slams to get ranked nationally and internationally. Yet Indonesia has never hosted a grade 1 tournament.

Promising junior tennis player Grace Sari Ysidora, 17, said she had to fly to Thailand, Malaysia or the Philippines to take part in grade 1 competitions.

“As for grand slams, I have to go to the US. I needed a huge amount of money for transportation and accommodation, not to mention registration fees for the events. Fortunately, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) often sponsored me when I competed overseas,” she added.

Grace said she expected the government to take the lead in developing tennis. She said the governments of China, Japan and Thailand regularly scouted for talent.

“Meanwhile, our government focuses only on the senior class. It seems rather wayward as any development [in sports] must come from the youth,” she added.

Indonesian Tennis Association (PELTI) chairwoman Martina Widjaja blamed the small limited of competitions in the country, especially international level ones, on International Tennis Federation regulations.

“The ITF allows only five international tournaments a year [in Indonesia],” she said.

Determined to build a good sporting atmosphere in the country, former national tennis team coach Deddy Prasetyo said the need for talent scouting and having qualified coaches were equal, as was the need to organize consistent tournaments.

“We need a good system to scout new talent and develop them. Having motivated and inspired coaches is also part of the effort, yet it remains an issue for tennis in the country,” Deddy told The Jakarta Post recently.

He added that he and several others came up with initiatives to inspire coaches as one of many ways to develop tennis.

“We invite foreign tennis coaches, such as from the Netherlands, to run free workshops for our coaches. Despite this, however, the [local coaches] only attend with a view to taking back a certificate,” he added.

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The ITF allows only five international tournaments a year [in Indonesia].

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“We also invite the coaches on outbound training programs once in a while, expecting them to have more passion in what they do. Yet again, it was fruitless,” Deddy said.

He acknowledged that money played a major part in the slow development of the sport in the country, especially for coaches.

“As far as I know, most coaches, especially those in remote regions, are not from well-off families. So it is kind of tricky to ask them to be more passionate and motivated in training young players while they have problems making ends meet,” Deddy said.

He said that overall, tennis would always be a niche sport for most Indonesians due to the related costs. “But I may never give up on this. I love tennis. I still believe this country has talented players and coaches,” he added.

PELTI’s Martina said many children in eastern Indonesia showed great potential.

“Most kids there have strong physiques. But we have very few coaches willing to be posted there,” she said. “We don’t want to separate talented six-year-old kids from their parents just to undergo training in bigger cities.”

PELTI once floated the idea of operating regional sports centers aimed at seeking new talent. PELTI allowed the sports centers to request coaches to be sent to their areas. “However, the program was not successful,” Martina said.

Young player Grace, however, said coaches worked hard to help young players spread their wings in the sport.

“The [coaches] do their best in training and motivating players. We also have dedicated psychologists to boost our spirit to win matches or to help with our disappointment when we lose,” she said.

“The real problem in our troubled tennis development, especially in the junior class, is the reluctance of the government to seek and develop new talent,” she added.