TENNIS: Ireland may be chasing the rest of Europe in developing elite players capable of competing at world level, but over the next few years Tennis Ireland are hopeful renewed efforts at bringing some of their 50,000 players through to a higher level might be rewarded.
In an ambitious development plan, which will harness the experience of coach Ivo van Aken, last year's Belgian Federation Cup winning captain who can boast world number nine ranked player Kim Clijsters as one of his protégées, Irish tennis is aiming high.
The development of a centre of tennis excellence in conjunction with Dublin City University, a radical overhaul in the way Irish coaches are trained and an elite player programme are the three planks of the new strategy.
Already 12 children aged between 12 and 13 years are being trained by van Aken and managed by Dublin-based coach Gerry Cahill. The Belgian is an advocate of coaching children early in what some would consider a harsh, if enjoyable environment.
Clijsters began playing at six while Xavier Malisse, this year's Wimbledon semi-finalist, and French Open finalist Justine Henin are also products of the van Aken assembly line.
The young Irish players, despite their age, will be expected to train at least three hours a day in a schedule which includes an intense competitive element and considerable overseas travel. The new base will be adjacent to the grounds of DCU, where the plan is to construct four indoor courts on the site of the existing facility at Albert College. Dublin Corporation is making the land available and the university is providing dressing-room facilities. Planning permission has been granted for the facility.
A grant of €800,000 will cover the bulk of the cost of the semi-permanent "bubble" structure with a further €400,000 required from Tennis Ireland.
"The children are selected by being observed at key tournaments and then they are invited to play in training days," says Roger Geraghty, director of development.
"It is an expensive exercise. We cover the three-hours regional coaching and the seven-hours national coaching, unfortunately the six hours per week private coaching is not yet covered until we find a sponsor. We are very much aware of this.
Van Aken has visited Ireland recently to view this year's group and has expressed satisfaction about the proficiency of tennis the players have demonstrated.
The likelihood of even one of the youngsters breaking through is uncertain and while costs are prohibitive for some, the positive view is that they are being identified and groomed for the top game at the right age
"He is very pleased with this group. He said that technically they are ahead of last year's group," said Geraghty.
"We are trying to convince clubs to run mini and midi-type tournaments and then we would run similar type tournaments which could be used for selection purposes."
This year Tennis Ireland also staged the first Eagle Star National Club Awards. The winning categories are - Small Club: Clane (Kildare) and Hawarden (Belfast); Medium Club: Downshire Hillsborough (NI) and Deerpark (Dublin); Large Club: Galway and Sunday's Well (Cork); Maunsell Award: Scott Barron and Gina Niland; Raymund Egan Award: June Ann Byrne (Carrickmines); Coach of the Year: Tadhg Lambe (Limerick Lawn Tennis); O'Shee Award: Colin O'Brien (Malahide) and Clodagh McMorrow (Tipperary Town).
