ITF

DEVELOPMENT Take, for example, three heart- warming examples of the power of tennis to do good in Malawi: The tennis programme at the Dzeleka Refugee Camp, a refuge run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the outskirts of the Malawi capital Lilongwe by a current refugee, which aims to provide a social space for children in the camp to learn and engage in a sport (tennis). The 'Match Foundation', a programme run by a former player, Tadala Kandulu, for underprivileged youth based at the Bingu national stadium which serves as a safe environment for children not only to learn tennis but life skills and enhance their education. 'Saved by the ball', a programme in Mzuzu targeting underprivileged children to introduce them to tennis and give them a space to play. All these are small foundations and programmes which profit from ITF assistance in the form of equipment provided through national associations and funded by the ITF's Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI). None of the kids from low-level schemes such as these has yet broken through to the point where they could be described as high-performance level. But such ventures serve to illustrate just how much work still needs to be done on the foundations of tennis in southern Africa, before there are enough high-quality players for names from this part of the world to be regularly appearing in the professional rankings. Tennis initiatives like these can be of immense social value, especially in a country like Malawi which, in common with many underprivileged African communities, has a problem with early childhood marriages (particularly of girls) and pregnancies. Take Zione Nkhoma, who was 10 when she was invited to join 'Saved by the ball'. Her passion and talent for tennis came to the attention of SBB coaches, who helped her get a scholarship to an international school and become one of the first Malawians to play in the African team championships. Now 24, she says, "With the help of SBB I managed to stay in school and avoid early marriage. Through SBB, I've secured a job teaching physical education in a school." Daina Nyirenda was even younger, eight, when she joined SBB, but she went on to represent Malawi in several international junior tournaments, and is now at university studying early child development. "Most of my age mates got pregnant and became parents at a tender age," she says. "I am now a role model in my community to my fellow girls due to the impact that SBB had on me." Success can be measured in different ways, and it's clear a much broader measuring stick is needed when assessing efforts to both build upon and broaden tennis participation in southern Africa than in more industrially developed areas of the world. ITF World Summer 2023 35 Africa there.

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