Accra, Jan 11, GNA - Frank Ofori, Ghana's former national number one tennis player has implored coaches and officials of tennis in the country to make do with the little that they have at their disposal instead of always grumbling about being under-funded.
He said when young and upcoming players always read about how tennis has been neglected by the sports authorities, it sends the wrong message and signals and kills any desire in them to continue with the sport. Speaking to the GNA Sports in Accra, Ofori who is now into coaching and development of young tennis players said "until we start building with the little at our disposal, nothing would be achieved and the sport would continue to sink".
"It is rather better to give the player a nice excuse why not to train if there is no ball instead of going to the press or grumble before the player that the authorities are not interested in their future", he added.
He said when this type of positive attitude is adopted, it builds a fighting spirit which will help the player develop even with the limited facilities at his disposal instead of always waiting for the government or the authorities to provide the facilities which will take a long time in coming.
"This also results in more efforts and enthusiasm in the players to achieve great things looking at the type of facilities at their disposal to be able to achieve results with the limited resources at their disposal"
Frank Ofori who once helped the national tennis team, the Golden Rackets to improve from the Euro-Africa Zone 3 to Zone 1 in the Davis Cup, was full of praise for the new talents that have emerged to carry the tennis torch of Ghana.
He said with the needed motivation and sense of direction, the current crop of players can be helped to reach the same height that the former members were able to achieve during his playing days. "It is important for all to know that recapturing those heights will not come so easily, since it will take a re-examination of how the game is organised from the top to the scratch".
He suggested frequent tennis clinics for the coaches and regular competitions for the players so as to bring back the competitive spirit among the players as it was in the past adding that it would be another form of bringing out the best in them".
Mr Ofori also pleaded with the private sector to help by sponsoring tennis events to keep the players busy throughout the year since a player can loose his or her competitive spirit after few weeks of inactivity.
