Junior Tennis Initiative programme expanding gradually

KARACHI: Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has taken its Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) programme to new heights in recent years.

A cursory look on the development of the programme in Pakistan shows its gradual growth in the years before the pandemic.

In 2015-16, the JTI programme was being run in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar with 14 schools participating.

The number of total participants was 700 and 50 coaches were trained besides 12 school teachers.

There were 13 competitions and 10 camps in the said period.

The JTI programme in Karachi was the biggest as 300 to 400 kids were registered with the programme.

The number of cities has increased as recently the JTI programme reached Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) when PTF organised three coaching workshops there.

The coaching workshops were conducted by PTF’s National Coordinator JTI Programme Hamid Niaz.

This programme targets 14 and under players with special focus on 10 and under children, especially in schools.

These workshops were held in Mirpur, Bhimber and Kotli. The participants were introduced to the ITF Tennis Play & Stay Campaign.

It is to be noted that the JTI program is being supported by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

To make this programme a success, ITF provided $3000 for equipment and $3000 as fee to the national coordinator of JTI in 2015 and 2016.

In 2017 and 2018, ITF provided $4000 for equipment and $6000 as fee to the coordinator.

The federation provides financial support to the coordinators in terms of extra equipment, programme running expenses, inspection trip expenses, and travel expenses to other cities.

Hence, PTF spent $500 as inspection trip expenses (for Karachi and Lahore) in 2018, while they paid $270 to a regional coordinator hired for three months. The situation was the same in 2019.

PTF paid from $40 per month to $180 per month to the regional coordinators of Khyber Pakhtunkhwah, Islamabad, Sindh, and Punjab.

The PTF and the provinces together spent approximately $2,420 in the five years for the development of school tennis.

In total, ITF invested approximately $42,000 in Pakistan’s JTI Programme from 2014-2019.