GEORGE TENNIS NEWS - GREAT Tennis are celebrating the opening of their new 8 tennis courts on Sunday (9 September) and it will be a momentous occasion for the George-based tennis academy that started in 2001 with one coach.
Today the academy features some 10 full time coaches, all highly accomplished tennis players.
"Today, we celebrate tennis, our 600 tennis players and coaches. This year, 66 GREAT Tennis Academy players were selected to represent Eden Tennis in interprovincial teams", explains Lizelle Fourie of GREAT Tennis.
"We are particularly proud of academy players Heike Janse van Vuuren, Marnus Oosthuizen and Chandré Boshoff, who made the SA team and participated in various International CAT tournaments. In the process of achieving exceptional heights Heike and Chandré each won a Growthpoint Super 8 tournament - the most competitive in SA.
"Drikus de Jager, Martin Mostert, Damian Muller and Daniel Wessels were selected to the SA Primary and High School Teams in 2018. GREAT performance coaches Eduard Steyls, Morné van Zyl and Johannes Roux are the individual coaches of these players but also credit to the whole GREAT team.
"Six of our players already attend American universities with tennis scholarships, namely Marli van Heerden, Donna Haycock, Kobus Sauermann, Francois Sauermann, Alex Mosehle and Max Stam."
Lizelle Fourie also chairs Eden Junior Tennis and convenes all the SATA tournaments in Eden.
"We are very pleased," Fourie said, "with the number of local tournaments available to players. In the past, players had to travel much more to participate in tournaments. We have 5 Mini Tournaments in Eden as well as the Eden Grand Prix from 21 - 24 September. Red and Orange ball leagues and tournaments were introduced in 2017 at various primary schools. GREAT Tennis also tours to all mayor tournaments in South Africa as well as to ITF tournaments in Africa. Just last week Johannes Roux returned from the Mauritius ITF.
"Part of our planning for the future includes providing clay court facilities to prepare our players better for the future. Clay court tennis form a very fundamental part of tennis in Europe, parts of Africa and the Americas. It has become very important to prepare players for a variety of surfaces from a young age." In 2019 GREAT Tennis plans to launch a tennis hostel to attract players from all over the country to George.
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