FOR COUNTRY PLAYERS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LX, Issue 91, 17 November 1939, Page 6

FOR COUNTRY PLAYERS

.*» —, COACHING SCHEMES TO BE ARRANGED TENNIS AND GOLF A start is being made in the Wellington Area with a scheme I o meet the problem of tennis coaching in country areas. An itinerary is being arranged for. a wellknown Wellington coach to visit country" centres playing exhibition -matches and coaching local players. One of the problems of small tennis clubs, particularly in country arSas, is that they have little opportunity of seeing good tennis, and much less of receiving good coaching. Particular emphasis will be placed on junior players. The New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association offers financial assistance to local associations for the coaching of juniors. It is hoped at an early date to extend this scheme to other areas where area instructors of the Physical Welfare and Recreation ~ Branch are working. These instructors have proved to be a medium for the initial sounding of the district and organising of itineraries, an expensive business, the cost of which no "club or association is likely to be able without this assistance to cover. Very much the same consideration applies to a scheme for coaching at country golf clußs. The expenses of organisation, together with the fact that no specific body exists for the purpose of establishing such a scheme, provides an opening for co-operation between the local Physical Welfare Officers and the clubs, whereby these officers may visit the clubs and arrange itineraries. Most of the main centres have first-class professionals who, when this preliminary work is done, would be willing to co-operate by visiting country clubs, playing exhibition matches and giving coaching, especially to junior members.