CAIRO: Potential tennis champions are born every day. Well maybe not every day, but you get the idea. The difficult part is finding them and getting them to stick with tennis long enough to see if they have what it takes to become professionals. The Palm Aroussy Tennis Academy (PATA) is trying to accomplish just that. Headed by its co-founder Hassan El Aroussy, a former Egyptian and African champion himself, the academy is implementing several strategies to try and uncover Egypt's next champions. PATA, located inside the Palm Hills Club in Palm Hills compound at 6th of October City, first opened its doors in June 2006. The academy boasts a number of different programs geared towards tennis players of all ages, with a particular emphasis on children. These children's programs are designed to be fun and to keep the students interested in tennis. With the short attention span that youngsters generally have, lessons are held in groups, using age-appropriate materials and short training intervals. El Aroussy, however, is not resting on his laurels; he has recently added the hosting of professional tournaments to the ever expanding list of activities at his academy. From March 22 to 30, PATA will be the venue for one of the biggest international tennis events to be held in Egypt for several years, the Palm Hills International Tournament. The men's tournament, part of the International Tennis Federation Men's Circuit, represents the entry level for professional tournaments. The players competing in it earn points that count towards their international ranking. El Aroussy is pleased that his academy has been chosen to host such a big event and says that reviving the diminishing presence of Egypt on the international tennis scene has been a long-term goal of his. He explains that he always felt that there is "this other side to the academy, which includes activities, events - in a sense, the marketing side of the academy. In his view the training of his students, especially the children, is only half of the equation. His plans started taking shape last year when PATA hosted the Palm Hills International Junior Championships. He believes that the move towards the Futures level of tournaments is the next step. "We have internal tournaments. We have a mini-league going on for the kids. We can have a local tournament. We decided to take it up a level and go for the men's tournament. His goal is for this to be followed by even bigger tournaments and hopefully the resurrection of the Cairo Open, which was held for a number of years at the Gezira Sporting Club but has been on hiatus since 2002. On one level, El Aroussy hopes that by bringing this tournament to his academy he will help give his students an insight into what it is like starting out in the world of professional tennis. The aim is to motivate them into taking the game seriously for long enough to uncover their true potential and see where it can take them. There are plans to organize a tennis clinic with some of the tournament entrants, to show the academy students what is possible and how much work and effort they need to invest in order to become professional players. The Argentinean Juan-Martin Aranguren and Egyptians Sherif Sabry, Motaz Aboul Khair and Karim Maamoun will be the highlights of the tournament. The interaction is meant to be both fun and educational. El Aroussy hopes his students attend as many matches as possible to get a feel of the atmosphere. His extensive travels have brought him to many tennis academies around the world and during those visits he has always seen that "tennis is not only teaching a kid or a child how to hit a forehand and a backhand. No, you should put an environment for this child . It could be for their parents and for grown-ups who play tennis. On another level and from a business perspective, he feels this tournament will also be an "added value for the place, for the club, for the project, which in turn will attract more students to the academy and a bigger pool from which to draw potential champions in the future.
