The quoted words above are those of former Australian Tennis Open boss Paul McNamee who last month issued a critical appraisal of Tennis Australia’s current development program. In an open letter to Australian coaches, McNamee claims that private coaches in the country are being marginalized rather than embraced as a result of Tennis Australia’s decision to opt for a systematic approach to junior player development.
McNamee suggests Australia’s most talented juniors are being lured away from their private coaches and subjected to what he describes as the ‘coaching merry go round’ of Tennis Australia’s player development program. The problem he foresees with this is that it seems the opportunity for young tennis players to play freely and enjoy a consistent and productive one-on-one bond with their coach is being overlooked for a more forced and mechanised approach to development.
Indeed, this attempt to produce a conveyer belt of talent in a systematic fashion is not solely an approach adopted by Tennis Australia. The UK and USA also provide cases of a ‘nanny state’ approach to the development of their best young juniors. In Britain, from seven years old our most promising young tennis players are invited by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to have their skills measured by something called Talent ID at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. This involves them being timed to hit certain shots for a minute each whilst being watched by a clipboard holding assessor. Should they make the grade, the children are offered the chance to train at one of the LTA’s national performance centres.
According to Tim Henman’s former coach David Felgate, his current 16-year old Croatian prodigy Donna Vekic would have failed the LTA’s test when she was just starting to play the game. What would this have meant? Would she have continued to play after being told she wasn’t good enough based on certain criteria at a young age? It opens up the debate of whether this process is not only needed but also whether it is a reliable method to develop the game of tennis in the UK. Do we need a systematic process to identify and develop young tennis stars of the future? Paul McNamee has certainly suggested that this approach is not helping the game in Australia.
“One of the common questions I get asked is ‘What happened to Australian tennis?’, along with the follow up, ‘How can it be revived?’ In my view, the answer to the second question, and the key to our renaissance as a great tennis nation, is surprisingly simple. My mantra is ‘Liberate the army of coaches’,” wrote McNamee.
Investing money into grass roots tennis and making the sport more accessible to children from all areas and backgrounds is key. Success in tennis isn’t a black and white process and it certainly isn’t one that can be forced. One thing that is clear, however, is that having faith in the bonds and consistent relationships created between children and coaches at local clubs is vital for the development of talent and this is what the LTA must encourage.
