Tennis during the Apartheid years of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s was a flourishing phenomenon being played in the streets, schools and clubs throughout the township and rural communities over the length and breadth of South Africa. This was the time when sport was forced by law to operate along racial lines making it illegal and a criminal offense to play with or against a player of a different race. A well structured and managed sport, with great leadership ensured that the each individual tennis player had a pathway from local right up to national level as player, administrator and coach. Over 12,000 players were registered with clubs. Several regional and provincial champions learned and played their tennis on the dusty “self-made” sand courts. Sadly, today, sport, tennis in the township and rural communities is no more! Dead!

SA Tennis Development Foundation (SATDF) was formed in 2023 after extensive research and physical visits over 5 years to various rural and township in the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape communities to assess the current tennis and socio-economic situations within these areas. Consultative meetings, presentations and workshops and even clinics were held in some of these communities as well as with government structures of Education and Sports Departments which enabled us to gain first-hand information of the challenges that sport, tennis development face.

The main objective being to facilitate access to the game of tennis to marginalised township rural communities within the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Free-State where the game, prior to 1994 was vibrant. Our aims are to train and equip youth and adult tennis enthusiasts with tennis playing, basic coaching and administrative skills that will assist and enable them to implement and manage tennis programmes that kindle “appetite” and roll-out of the sport to the communities in a fun, recreational, enjoyable, professional and sustainable manner.

Having worked with and within these communities on development projects and programmes while identifying “talent” for further development and exposure to the formal local and provincial tennis structures has given us an understanding of the holistic needs. Tennis in the black and rural communities of the provinces is now ‘dead’ and has gradually been replaced by the current spate of crime-related and unsocial behaviour amongst our young people. The lack of vision and dreams, the heavy pressure on youth by family, peers and undesirable elements in our communities put pressure on young people, boys, and girls, to give up on their dreams and become part of a statistic of the elements of social ills.

During the 2018/19 period SATDF undertook roadshows to rural areas and held consultative meetings and presentations with community, government (DCAS and WCED) and TSA national, provincial, and regional structures. This exercise enabled us to align our key focus to the aims of these stakeholders.

SATDF has developed training programmes aimed at the empowerment at Early Childhood Development (ECD), Primary School, High School and Adult levels. Our holistic approach to development within communities faced with different dynamics and challenges make our products and services unique. The whole focus on recreation, fun and enjoyment while exploring for talent, encourage more people to participate. We see schools as an integral part of the communities and do tailor projects and programmes to ensure that community members have a role to play at school level and for programmes to continue after hours and weekends. Schools must become tennis life- centres in the communities. Tennis is a powerful tool to attract children to play, instead of being lured to drugs, alcohol, crime, dangerous sexual activities etc. Issues like; over-competitiveness, lack of facilities and equipment, lack of sustainable programmes, not enough opportunities to socially get together etc. contribute to the youth leaving sport. The monsters drugs, crime, abuse, gangterism and unsocial behaviour are destroying our youngsters. Sport and recreation cross all boundaries including age, gender, race, religion, social standing, and education.