The latest techniques in developing tennis are presented by Amira El-Naqeeb in an otherworldly haven In the lap of the beautiful idyllic resort of Port Ghalib, the jewel in the crown of the Red Sea city Marsa Allam, and in the vicinity of the Intercontinental Palace Resort, the 17th ITF Worldwide Coaches Conference on tennis took place from 20-24 November. Egypt was competing on hosting the coaches' conference with the United States, Mexico, China, and Indonesia. The last time the conference was held was in Valencia, Spain, in 2009, as it runs its cycle every two years. Executive Director of Development in the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Dave Miley, spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly about the regular procedures taken to select a country which is by bidding. "We haven't done it in Africa since 1999, and Egypt expressed interest with the four other countries. Both Ismail El-Shafei, who is on the board of the ITF, and Israa El-Sanhouri, the president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation (ETF), enticed us to come and see the location. I came and I saw a fantastic place that matches all our criteria," Miley said. (El-Shafei was Egypt's best tennis player, the only Egyptian to have entered the top 40 in Grand Prix/ATP ranking history. He also had the distinction of being one of only four players to beat the legendary Swede Björn Borg at Wimbledon, knocking him out in the third round in 1974). According to Miley, the most important aspects when choosing a location is that it has good flight connections, good conference facilities, and that the hotel is close to the conference centre to facilitate socialising and networking between the coaches. "However, this conference centre made by El-Kharafi Group has an edge -- for the first time we had an indoor portable tennis court inside the lecture room. We brought it from the US especially for this event. It was the first time we do something like this, which benefitted the participants a great deal in the sense that they had both the theoretical and practical aspects in one place," Miley added. Egypt's strategic location managed to attract 620 participants from 90 countries, the second highest number since the beginning of the conference in 1982. The conference is targeting tennis coaches from all over the world. The Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) played a major role in sporting the conference. Undersecretary Head of the Domestic Tourism Sector Magdi Selim told the Weekly that only recently did sports events become an area of interest for the ETA, with media interest highlighting the country from the touristic aspect. "We were very eager to seize the opportunity to sponsor the touristic and media part in this important international event because it will reflect that the political circumstances that Egypt is going through doesn't affect Egypt as a whole, and that there is stability in the security situation in the country," Selim stated. Miley said he received all the help he needed from the ETF and El-Kharafi Group. "Having said that, one cannot overlook the organisational part of the ETA, and the head of the beehive, Ashraf Hassan, head of the technical department in the Domestic Tourism Sector, who left no stone unturned in assisting the national and international media, and making our job easier." El-Sanhouri talked enthusiastically about the participants' feedback. "We had 70 coaches from Egypt, some of whom attended previous coaching conferences. They said this one was a unique learning experience, and they can't wait to go back and practice what they have learned," El-Sanhouri said. Miley agreed, saying that this time the conference had a very interesting theme: 'The development of a high performance player'. The workshop divided the coaching age into 10 and under, 14 and under, transition, and playing professional tennis. There were coaches from Argentina who worked with top professional players. Argentina is one of the top tennis countries in the world. El-Sanhouri added that the workshop provided the latest nutritional, mental, and physical techniques in tennis coaching. "The impact of a conference like this is incredible. We have more than 100 presentations in the workshop, and we have uploaded these presentations on the www.tennisicoach.comwww.tennisicoach.comwebsite, so coaches from all over the world can benefit from it, so you can imagine the impact," Miley said.
