Young player’s plan to resuscitate

Press, 16 April 1980, Page 16

Young player’s plan to resuscitate

By

JOHN BROOKS

Canterbury denriis

Dramatic changes in the conduct of tennis in Canterbury are advocated by Michael Mooney, who leaves Christchurch today to take up a two-year coaching contract with the Salach Club in southern Germany. While acknowledging that Canterbury is the best-run association in New Zealand, Mooney believes that there is plenty of room for improvement in the system of competition, and that this is necessary for the tennis boom to have real meaning.

And although he might appear to be precocious — after all, he is still a month short of his twen-ty-second birthday — he has a genuine desire to see Canterbury tennis march into the 1980 s with more purposeful opportunities for players of all ages and all levels of ability.

This bright young man of the playing and coaching spheres has a threepoint plan which he believes covers the problem areas of the game.

The first deals with younger children; he argues that the lower age limit of 10 adopted by most clubs should be lifted because it is necessary to “catch ’em young.” As an extreme example, he cites a seven and a half year old boy who topk part in the recent coaching clinic run by Mooney and Stephen Harley. The boy had a forehand and backhand, and an overarm serve — he conceded only one double fault in a full set.

Mooney’s second point concerns the older juniors, particularly those whose work commitments prevent -Them from taking

part in the tournaments run in school holidays. He believes that the institution of a grading system would help these players make the transition to senior ranks smoothly, check the fallout of players to other pursuits, and provide incentives.

Chief among these would be grade tournaments, and this largely covers his third point, for he contends that senior players are poorly catered for in Canterbury. If players were drafted into three

grades, say, and competed in A, B or C tournaments the standard would be even and the competitors would be encouraged to continue. Promotion to a higher grade would be on merit.

An elite group of about 20 in the A grade would also lift the performances of Canterbury’s leading players, and provide an attractive shop window for the game. This season, for instance, Mooney did not once play Brett Hibbert at Wilding Park and he met the Davis Cup squad member, Harley, only at the start of the competition.

“We should be playing each other often, to raise the standard ' and draw crowds,” Mooney said. The young man who was Canterbury’s No. 1 in the Wilding Shield contest this year sees grade tournaments as a means of making money for clubs, promoting the game and maintaining competitors’ interest.

He reasons that after allowing for the club competition and the Christ-

mas-New Year break there would still be at least six week-ends available for the tournaments, providing the • “pointless” Labour Day and Show Day events were scrapped.

He envisages the tournaments being run by the clubs, with players coming and going at prearranged times. ■

“If these events were sponsored, and the money placed in a pool along with the entry fees, there would be enough left for the host club to spend on coaching after prize

money had been deducted.”

He thinks the introduction of an under-11 grade would attract to tennis youngsters who are dabbing in several sports. And on the coaching side, he believes children would gain a .better idea of-the actual skill of*' hitting a ball if more use' was made of leading players as demonstrators, working under qualified coaches. Mooney is also emphatic that the game would benefit broadly if a pro-motion-relegation system was introduced to the senior competition. “This would stop good juniors drifting away from the non-status clubs,” he said. “They wouldn’t leave if their club had a chance , of winning the senior reserve competition and thus getting a crack at the top grade. With this incentive, every club would grow, and not just five or six as at present.” In Germany, Mooney will keep his eyes and ears open, learning how indoor tennis facilities are run and gaining experience in the organisa-

tion of tournaments. As well as maturing as a coach and, perhaps, rising in stature as a player, he alto hopes to become involved in tennis administration. Consequently, he will be bulging with ideas when he returns to Christchurch in 1982, but it remains to be seen if he gets the opportunity to put them into practice. He describes this as the “X factor.” He looks forward to the time when tennis can accommodate one or two people to run tournaments, organise sponsorship and handle coaching assignments as part of a broad and flexible brief. “I would like especially to help children from their earliest years in tennis and take them right through to senior ranks, perhaps even producing a Davis Cup player. “But generally my chief aim is to keep as manypeople of all ages and skills as possible enjoying tennis.”