Gary Purcell advises that the first JTI Coordinators call of 2021 has just taken place. Since being introduced in 2020, these meetings have been a great way for regular communication between the JTI Coordinators, the Pacific Oceania Nations and the ITF Development team. Joining the call were also Miguel Crespo, Head of Participation and Coaching (ITF) and Tim Jones, Project Lead Participation (ITF).
Nations in attendance were:
• American Samoa
• Cook Islands
• Fiji
• Guam
• Papua New Guinea
• Samoa
• Solomon Islands
• Vanuatu
Miguel and Tim gave the attendees some updates from a Worldwide and ITF perspective. Topics in these updates included additions to the ITF Academy and educational resources. Also, the new online reporting platform in development that should be rolled out in the second quarter of this year. It was advised that updated JTI Guidelines will be shared with all active Nations shortly along with letters advising 2021 JTI assistance. A new toolkit is close to being ready, which will give Nations the ability to create promotional material such as posters and online posts with the new JTI logo and personalized information specific to the country. The issue of equipment shipments was addressed and flagged as a priority for all Nations present on the call.
Various topics were discussed, including but not restricted to:
• What has been happening since our last call three months ago
• National COVID19 status updates • School and club activity
• Competition and development sessions
• Coaches and deliverers
• National camps
• New normal concerning sports www.itftennis.com
Action points from the call were:
• ITF to share the links to ITF Academy
• ITF to share the link to new ITF Safeguarding Children Course
• ITF to share ITF World article focusing on the Pacific Oceania region
• ITF to share information on 2021 assistance as well as equipment deliveries as soon as the information is available
• National Associations to complete JTI report form’s and submit prior to deadline dates
• National Associations to continue to develop strategies for the attraction and retention of players to align with the ITF 2024 Strategy goal of increasing the number of tennis players worldwide by 30 million in the next 10 years
• Parents of beginner tennis players: Fundamentals
• Parents of intermediate tennis players: Fundamentals
• Optimal Competition Parenting in Tennis
• Parents of intermediate tennis players: Player Development
• Parents of intermediate tennis players: Behaviours towards competition