Daly-Ramdyhan leaves for Spain

Nov 02, 2009 Sports

Daly-Ramdyhan leaves for Spain

ITF certified Level 1 tennis coach Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan left the country recently to attend a worldwide coaches conference which begun on October 29 and runs until November 5 in Spain.

The current and multiple national champion, who has also been involved in coaching for a couple of years speaking with Kaieteur Sport shortly before departure that the conference is a bit different from those she had previously attended in Panama and El Salvador, citing the presence of all the top Tennis Instructors many of them who work with some of the top junior players on the international circuit.

According to Daly-Ramdyhan, who is also the national coach and spearhead of the Mini-Tennis Initiative among the countries they are coming from include the USA, Argentina and host Spain.

Quizzed on some of the topics that will be taught during the 8-day symposium, Daly-Ramdyhan said that subjects such as bio-mechanics, strategic game planning, new technology in teaching coaching techniques, medicine in sports, how to deal with players on tours and ethics in sports among others.

Asked how her attendance at such an important meeting could impact the sport here, Daly-Ramdyhan informed ever since she attended the Panama Course she was able to gain a lot of knowledge in the sport and it has helped her relate to junior players as well as assist them to absorb what was being taught.

“I have learnt how to implement the skills and drills techniques to the juniors and also advise them about the importance of food and nutrition as well as importance of the mental aspect of the game,” she said.

The national coach stated that from what she has seen during her tenure as coach, regional players lack the mental application to succeed at the highest level and that area was the focal point during the two previous conferences she had attended.

Asked about whether she had seen any improvement in the game here among the juniors, she responded by saying that since the 05’ Summer Camp when the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association decided to initiate a junior programme there have been significant advances, adding that before then they were merely imparting the basic skills to players.

“Since then those courses really helped us to improve the standard of play here, it also increased the number of participants in the sport and we were then able to travel and compete in regional competitions and from the results garnered, it shows that we are moving forward,” she opined.

Daly-Ramdyhan disclosed that Guyana now have players with ITF ranking points among them being Anthony Downes, Gavin Lewis, Krystal Sukra and Jeremy Miller.

She closed by extending thanks to the following for their support: Mrs. Khan, Mr. Ganes of IMEX, Mr. Rahaman of Rent-A-Tent, Mr. & Mrs. Azeez, the GLTA, Mr. Nazim of Bakewell, the parents of the players of the Park Players Club and her family.