Living the tennis dream

By Alemayehu Seife Selassie

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Tariku Tesfaye is a self made tennis player that has got the chance to travel abroad representing his country on several matches. Starting out as a ball-tosser, this young man has spent more than half his life on, around and near the tennis court. Starting from four years ago this young man’s participation around the court got even nobler as he started coaching kids free of charge.

Tariku has gone through a rigorous training to change his life from where he started twelve years ago tossing balls for the players. “There were twenty of us who were tossing balls most are tennis trainers for the national team and the rest are still playing”, Tariku explains n how he came to hold the tennis racket which earned him a lot of respect over the years.
Now after years of playing, however, this player has started to notice that there would have been more chances for the players if they started playing from a young age as opposed to the trend where they waste years tossing balls. “I have come to know that it is much easier for the player to start playing at a young age than spend time tossing balls before given a chance to really play in the field.”

Taking some courses on playing in South Africa and representing Ethiopia in the Davis cup in Uganda and the African Youth Cup in Nairobi, Tariku has started going abroad taking part in international competitions when he was 18. Due to his training, his students have gotten the chance to go and take part in international tournaments at a much younger age than him. And he explains that among the good will to provide the able children with an opportunity, the extra time he has on his hands was also another motive he had for training the children. “We only competed to go to the international tournament which happens once a year. So I said to myself why don’t I start training tennis?”

At the beginning of his training however, most of the trainees that dared to show were adults. “At first I was depending on some books for training but later on, I took some courses that were provided through the Ethiopian Tennis Federation and now I have certificate for coaching.”
Tariku also explains tennis in Ethiopia is something that many are impressed with but have not been accustomed to. “People here come to see how good you do things and if you can really show them how to make a difference in their skills, they come to you regularly”.
When Tariku came to the Greek Club to coach tennis some six years ago, he was not aiming at the under privileged children. But after he worked for two years, he presented his thoughts to the club. “I wrote a letter saying that I would be glad if the club would allow me to coach underprivileged teenage children who have great potential. And the club was delighted and welcomed my project with open arms”, Tariku explains on how he started four years ago.
This trainer states that this project has more personal meaning for him as he had also been in the same situation the children were in over a decade and a half ago. “We have had similar life and there are many people who have played a major role for us to get here. So I wanted to do something to pay my dues”.

The project that Tariku currently runs has 12 teenage players. Registering from a pool of 70 kids aged six to eight years of age, this trainer’s dream is getting fulfilled when two of his players have won 1st place in the East African Teenage Cup. His effort has not been left unnoticed either as the he and his players were given a trophy from the Ethiopian Prime Minister himself. Winning a trophy is never a new occurrence for Tariku as he had won some eight trophies at the national level. But the achievement of his teenage players is something he takes real pride in.

“After we selected 20 from the 70 children, we gave them a three months training and from those 20 we selected 12 children. And we have been giving training for the past four years now”.
Over those four years Tariku’s players have won 20 trophies in national level and 14 gold silver and bronze trophies internationally.
In 2005 Tariku’s players have won six medallions silver and bronze in the single and double tournament; where as in the 2006 Tanzania held tennis tournament, the players have won a total of seven medallions.

“We have been working only with the 12 selected players over the past three years. But we have plans to train more kids.”
Meron Getu and Semira Michael are among the best performer from the group of 12 players that has won first place in national tournaments as well as the Nairobi and Tanzania international competitions. In addition to the trophies and certificates they have received from the head of state, the two players have each been granted 18,000 Birr (~2,000 USD) cash prize for their achievements.

After years of sweat and overwhelming result Tariku now states that working with kids is not an easy task. “You have to really care and when we conduct the coaching we also provide the ethics of sportsmanship. We even criticize them when they become weak in their education. We are trying to provide some support in their educations. There are some students who come from the international community schools and provide some English courses voluntarily”.

Tariku gives thanks for the Greek Club that allowed him to pursue his dream, and the children opportunity to play and supply in some materials support as well. When he plays however he plays wearing his sponsor Nyala Insurance.
“In order to be professional in their field the players should take part in many tennis tournaments. I hope they have more of those because they really have great potentials he explains.”

June 2, 2007