The Malta Tennis Federation has recently organised a series of three Workshops for tennis coaches in Malta. The final workshop was held on 1 and 2 September at the Marsa Sports Club.

These workshops were organised in conjunction with the International Tennis Federation as a part of Malta Tennis 10’s Programme that was launched in May 2012.

The main objective of this programme is to increase the number of junior tennis players aged 12 and under playing tennis at all the local tennis clubs.

These workshops served to further educate Maltese tennis coaches from all the clubs on how to run junior tennis festivals within the rules and guidelines of the Tennis 10’s programme.

The first two workshops were conducted by Ronald Pothuizen and the third by Mike Barrell.

Both Pothuizen and Barrell were commissioned by the International Tennis Federation and are experts in the field of Tennis Coaches Education. They have worked with several Tennis Federations around the world including the United States Tennis Association, Australian and Tennis Federation.

Local tennis clubs that are a part of the Malta Tennis 10’s Programme are now working together to organise regular National Junior Tennis Festivals in the Under 8, 10 and 12 categories. This supports junior tennis players to improve their game whilst enjoying practising the sport.

Results of this programme are already evident. The first festival which was held on 1 May and sponsored by Gasan Mamo, drew a full event with the maximum of 64 juniors from ten different clubs taking part.

At the same time the Tennis 10’s Committee, run by Claire Arrigo and Franco De Gabriele are currently working on a schedule of events for the rest of 2012 and 2013.