New Delhi: The first of its kind in the history of Indian Tennis – a Webinar on Coaches’ Education – successfully concluded on Saturday with most of the tutors and experts returning to the panel and collectively engaged and answered many relevant queries by the participants and Bharat Oza, Chairman, AITA Coach’s Education and Certification Program, joining as the chief guest of the day.
The two week long Webinar, which was jointly organised by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), witnessed participation of hundreds of coaches on a daily basis.
During each of the 12 sessions on schedule, the participants were enlightened by tennis knowledge and experiences of the top current and former Indian tennis players like Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna, Ankita Raina, Nandan Bal, Yuki Bhambri, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rohit Rajpal, Vishal Uppal, Zeeshan Ali, Vishnu Vardhan, Ashutosh Singh and Saketh Myneni.
It was also revealed during the Webinar that India is, now, the number one country in the world with maximum coaches registered with the ITF Academy.
Joining the Webinar on the final day, Oza said, “It has been a long journey since we started this webinar on 27 April 2020. But, it has been a pleasant journey. In current situation and difficult times, it is a progressive step for Indian tennis that we have gone digital and conducted this webinar, with the support of SAI”.
“It entailed not only tennis related informative sessions but also included other aspects, which goes into making of a champion, like Nutrition, Mental Training and Fitness Training,” added Oza before leaving the floor open for a round of Questions and Answers.
Dr. Janki Deole, PhD in Sports Science and Psychology (UK), Gary O’Brien, Development Officer, Bengal Tennis Association, Nandan Bal, Former Indian Davis Cup player and one of India’s top coaches currently, Chelston Pinto, Co-founder, Rapid Sport Fitness Gym and Former Professional Footballer, Hemant Bendrey, Elite ITF Certified Coach, Isha Chopra, SAI Coach, South India, Shiny Surendran with 20+ years in Sports and Preventive Nutrition were some of the experts who took questions from the attendees and shared their wisdom, once again, on the final day of the webinar.
Lalita Sharma, Regional Director, SAI Sonepat, who played a pivotal role in organising this webinar, delivered a vote of thanks to all the attendees, panelists, experts and the AITA’s Coach’s Education Program for their participation and coordination in the highly entertaining and enriching discussions and presentations during the past two weeks.
