Pelti to expand mini tennis activities
Pelti to expand mini tennis activities
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) will
expand its mini tennis activities to include children and their
parents who do not have a full knowledge of tennis.
Pelti official in charge of tennis development, promotion and
foreign affairs Martina Widjaja said on Thursday that mini tennis
would be introduced to children in kindergarten and the first
year of elementary school to help them decide if they want to
choose tennis as a career.
"Mini tennis is obligatory if we want to popularize tennis in
this country. Any child can come out to play mini tennis. We will
see if they have talent to be a tennis player through the
practice," she told a media briefing on Thursday.
She said Pelti would initiate the mini tennis pilot project in
Central Java in July, in East Java in August and in West Java in
September.
Dani, who is in charge of mini tennis development, said the
sport was included in the curriculum of 12 state schools here. He
said the sport would be introduced in four cities in Central Java
-- Ambarawa and Semarang, Tegal, Surakarta and Yogyakarta.
"We are targeting students in kindergarten and the first year
of school whose ages are between four and five. We will make mini
tennis a fun game to play individually or in teams. When they
reach five or six, we hope that they have understood how to hit a
ball, and when they're a year older, they can start playing
tennis," he said.
Mini tennis will also be exhibited in public areas like
shopping malls, said Ary Sudarsono, who is in charge of mini
tennis promotion.
"It's difficult to introduce tennis to the general public,
because they have developed an assumption that tennis is an
expensive sport. Besides, tennis is not as lively as other team
sports like basketball or soccer," he said.
"But I'm optimistic that this sport will not only be played as
a hobby. Tennis can be a communicative means to improve a youths'
nature," he added.
Martina also said Pelti would expand the extra tournament
every Saturday and Sunday for juniors, seniors and veterans
across the provinces who have adequate facilities.
She said the tournament, which is called Pertandingan Tennis
Sabtu Minggu (Saturday/ Sunday tournament) or Persami, is aimed
at increasing the number of tournaments which are affordable for
everyone.
Persami, which has been staged since 1996 at Danamon Tennis
Center in Central Jakarta, will be held in less than two days and
will be without referees and ball boys.(ivy)