Dubai: The UAE Tennis Association (UAETA) has extended a willing and helping hand of co-operation with the coaches, academies, organisations and tennis fraternities in the country.
"It is now time to give and take. We, at the tennis association are here to help and promote the growth of sport in the country. We do not want to do this all alone, but with the help of our partners like the coaches, the training academies, the schools, various organisations and the tennis fraternities in the UAE," Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, vice-president of the UAETA told Gulf News.
"Before this, everyone was for himself. But from now on, we will ensure things are better organised so that everyone benefits," he added.
The UAETA had a rare general body meeting inviting all coaches representing various academies and tennis training schools at the Dubai Municipality Club late on Tuesday to discuss ways and means to improve on the lot of tennis in the country.
The tennis authorities in the country decided to create several national tennis training centres for juniors in the different emirates in close co-operation with the Ministry of Education.
The programmes will aim to support government initiatives of healthier living and introduce sports activities through tennis to more young Arabs and expatriates.
Tuesday's meeting also decided on the implementation of the UAE National Tennis Ranking system that will be launched on October 1 for all national competitions.
This national ranking circuit will also start from October 1 and go on till September 30 each year encompassing more than 40 national events each year for juniors and adults.
The association has more than 1,000 registered players since 2007. Medipro Middle East has been signed up as the new partner to oversee all spheres of developing the sport.
"The basic aim is to have a continuity in tapping talent that is readily available for the sport in the country. I believe tennis has had too many abrupt stops in the past, but that has to be put behind us now and we need to move ahead by starting from the grassroots to ensure the betterment of tennis here," Falaknaz said.
The UAETA is also teaming up with the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare to create a national tennis centre with an academy as a main training ground for the national team.
The UAETA official admitted that there will be the initial spate of issues to deal with at the onset. "But these will be the normal teething problems that an initiative of this nature is bound to have," Falaknaz said.
