By Todd Larkham
ACT sport is proving that it’s not about the size of the population, but the quality of the training environment that matters. It’s the coaches and sporting bodies job to create these environments however the coach doesn’t produce champions – it’s up to the individual to do decide how hard they want to train and compete and how much they want to achieve.
ACT’s Exum, Mills (Basketball) Flanagan (Hockey), Matthews (cycling), Buchanan (BMX) and of course our own Nick Kyrgios, just to name a few, have all shown recently that they can perform at the highest level of their chosen sport, on the international stage and they have proved champions can come from anywhere – be it a large or small city – and its the personal qualities of these athletes and their skills that determines their success.
From my experience, the world class athletes in tennis all display similar qualities with the most important ones being a fierce determination to succeed, a great work ethic and intensity on court and an ability to compete under pressure. By competing, I mean consistently showing the guts, courage and composure required to play great tennis at the clutch moments. Sure you need to have great skills as well – it’s 50/50 – skills and mental. But in order to obtain those skills, you first need the personal qualities and the willingness to put in the hard work plus the self belief to execute them under pressure. Do you display these qualities and will you be the next ACT tennis player to shine?
Here are the outstanding results of the past 2 months from ACT players:
Nick Kyrgios
– Quarter-finalist Wimbledon
– Winner Nottingham Challenger
Annerly Poulos
– Winner 14/U Gold Wollongong
– Quarter-finalist 12/U Rod Laver Brisbane
Talllulah Farrow
– Winner 14/U Silver Ipswich
Luke Sarris
– Winner 14/U Orange and Ulladulla Junior events
Sanjana Bidarkal
-Semi-finals of the Nepean Open AMT
Congratulations to Sanjana for gaining a full scholarship to the University of South Dakota in the US. This is a great outcome for Sanjana who has been part of ACT junior tennis since a young age and for many years part of Alun Jones and Damien Ward’s elite squad training environment. She has combined excellent tennis and education results to gain this opportunity. We wish her all the best and look forward to seeing her join in training when she visits her family back in Canberra over the next few years.
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