ITF Council African representative, Jane Ndenga and Collins Omondi are targeting at least 50 junior players when they start their Wheelchair Tennis Tour in Kiambu County and its surroundings today.
Ndenga said the Tour is informed by the need to establish a national junior team.
“Wheelchair tennis has been running for almost 10 years now and Africa is still lagging behind. We have to put more efforts to spread the gospel and tell people that disability is not inability,” said Ndenga.
On why she chose to start the project in Kenya, the 2018 Sports Personality of the Year said: “Our national team did not qualify for this year’s World Cup and this shows lack of a good foundation. If we establish a junior team, like in other sports, we can train them and with consistency, it will propel us to greater heights.”
Teammate and second seed, Omondi, said they will be targeting special schools and children’s homes where they are sure of getting a huge audience.
“It is in schools where we can talk to these kids, teach them the sport and why it is important for them to join us,” said Omondi.
The duo are trained coaches with Level One certificates and boast support from Tennis Kenya and the ITF.
“We have rackets and tennis balls for beginners that ITF sent us as well as some funds from Tennis Kenya. We hope to receive more support from the two federations and hopefully get a sponsor because we need to do this campaign for one year,” he added.
The two players from the national team will be contented if they get at least five players from every school so they can bring them to the Nairobi Tennis Club, where they will be offered accommodation and other basic needs in addition to training.
“We are starting the tour in Kiambu tomorrow before proceeding to Eldoret, Mombasa, Vihiga, Embu counties,” Ndenga added.
