Juniors train in Spain

COFFS Harbour tennis coach Danny Sousa has recently returned from Spain where he toured with six of Australia’s brightest junior tennis players for four weeks.

It was a trip that Sousa admitted he had been planning for several years.

“I’ve been to Spain to check out their tennis training four times now and for a long time I have regarded Spain as the number one tennis nation in the world and the rankings prove it as, currently, Spain has 13 men in the top 100,” Sousa said.

“The first tours were just to compare their training to ours. After that I had connections with Spanish coaches I had met at the Australian, US and French Opens and I was invited to visit.

“Finally I took some players over and after this experience I am sure I will take more.”

The six lucky players who went on the tour of Spain with Sousa were Kempsey 15-year-old Callum Neal, William Berrigan, 13, Harrison Lombe, 15, Rhys Becarris, 15, Stephen Nprawski, 16, and Ryan Godwin, 14.

“These guys are a very strong team,” Sousa enthused.

“Rankings wise they are a bit below a national team but talent wise I believe they are just as good.

“From the top players I had seen on previous tours I believed that the top guys that I work with would be competitive with the best players of their age in Europe.”

Patience, fitness and strategy were the key elements that Sousa believed the team would enhance while on tour.

“These guys are so good that when they hit a good shot or serve, it rarely comes back but the red clay slows the ball down, causing points to be much longer and forcing players to be patient and to think more about how they set up points before they hit the big shot,” the coach said.

“The clay also means that you have to improve your defence and learn the right time to attack.”

The team started the tour in Barcelona where it trained at Barcelona Totally Tennis (BTT).

BTT has trained world number ones Rafael Nadal and Arancha Sanchez along with other top 20 players like Conchita Marinez, Fernando Verdasco, Nicolas Almagro, Tommy Robredo, Alberto Costa, Feliciano Lopez and many more of the world’s best.

Sousa’s squad trained on the same courts with the same coaches that have produced these players.

The first couple of days the team was lucky enough to work with Spanish Davis Cup coach Francis Roig who works with Nadal.

From there the players travelled to Valencia to TenisVal where Sousa toured 18 months ago. TenisVal has taken Marat Safin from a 17 year old to world number one as well as his sister Dinara. They also train David Ferrer and Igor Andreev and many more.

The juniors got to meet Ferrer and Andreev and got to train on the court next to them as the pair commenced preparations for the US Open after returning from Wimbledon.

The young teenagers also met and played doubles with Sarah Errani of Italy who recently played Samantha Stosur at the US Open.

“All the players were so nice to our team and it was great for them to see how hard the pros work.” Sousa said.

The same coaches that produced these players still work at TenisVal.

Safin’s touring coach Rafael Mesua, worked with the players every day as did Jose Altur who toured with Andreev and several other pros for many years.

The players trained for six hours a day including two hours of fitness and played in a tournament.

“This was their first real taste of how hard you need to work if you want to be one of the world’s best players,” Sousa added.

“Before going I was confident that the best players that I work with would be competitive over there but you can never be 100 per cent sure until you see them on the same court.

“Rhys Beccaris who is 15 made the final of an under-18s event over there.

“We had a few boys beat players in practice who were in the top five in Europe for their age.

“On the last day we had an Australia vs Rest of the World match and Australia, which was our team, won five sets to nil although every set was very close. I expected the boys to be competitive but they exceeded my expectations.”

All the Spanish coaches were very impressed with the Australian juniors and felt many of the team have a great chance of turning pro.

One of the goals of the tour was also to learn a bit of Spanish and to learn a bit about the culture.

The boys were asked to note down differences that they noticed between Spanish and Australian culture.

Sousa also bought a football which was awarded to the boy who could recall the most Spanish at the end of the tour.

During the tour, the squad was told how to order their own food and how to ask for things.

Sousa can speak Spanish and he taught each boy as much of the language as possible and a test was held at the airport while waiting for boarding.

“I set each boy the goal of learning how to say at least 12 things in Spanish,” he explained.

“I was extremely happy to find out that the lowest score in the test was 28 and the highest was Ryan who could say 48 and I think he could have said more.”

Sousa claims it wasn’t just the players that came back from Spain with increased knowledge and experience. Always eager to learn more himself, Sousa is proud that his knowledge increased on the tour as well.

“I have travelled to the US, France and Spain and checked out the Grand Slams and the best academies and coaches in the world and each time I come back from one of these trips, I gain so much as a coach and all of the players that I teach benefit greatly,” he said.

“The thing a lot of people don’t realise is that the things I learn, benefit all the players I work with, right from three-year old beginners to the top kids in Australia.”

Now it’s a matter of planning for the next trip and Sousa hopes to make them a regular occurrence.

“I hope to go to Europe every second year but I would do it every year if there is enough demand.”

LUCKY TOURISTS

Callum Neal, 15

William Berrigan, 13

Harrison Lombe, 15

Rhys Becarris, 15

Stephen Nprawski, 16

Ryan Godwin, 14