Dr Vece Paes, appointed Peak Performance Mentor for select tennis players attached to the MSLTA (Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association) Vision Players project, stressed that modesty was holding talented young Indians from matching strides with contemporaries from western countries. “We are taught to be modest. On the tennis court, players should be aggressive and play to win all costs. Our youngsters have to show this attitude,” said one of India’s leading sports trainers, attached to the Indian Davis Cup squad as team doctor. “I am trying to make talented young Indians understand that it is possible to be aggressive on court and be the typical Asian person off it.
Leander does it, Mahesh does it, and there is no reason why others can’t do it.
The long-term arrangement aims at utilizing Dr Paes’ expertise on the fitness front (hockey Olympian, medical professional) and experience as a successful tennis parent (Leander’s father). Twenty four boys and girls in the 12-16 age groups, short listed by MSLTA on the basis of state rankings, will train under him at Mumbai and Pune free of cost. “It is a question of having self-belief,” Dr Paes explained about route to international success. “We see it changing across different sports. Earlier hockey used to be the only sport getting us Olympic medals, now we are winning internationally in six to seven sports.” He listed shortage of dollars for engaging foreign coaches as another major reason which held back Indian youngsters in the past.
Dr Paes is mentoring and monitoring trainees on the High Performance programme. “It has more to do with lifestyle management of the players and getting the best people around them,” he said. “I will be in Mumbai two weeks each month for the BCCI Anti-Doping project, so will be able to make my schedule in such a way that I can work on tennis, in co-ordination with MSLTA coaches Hemant Bendrey and Manoj Vaidya who are overseeing the Vision Players project. Six players chosen for the project represented India, three of them (Arjun Kadhe, Rutuja Bhosale and Pratharna Thombre, all U-16, were chosen on the ITF Asian Junior Touring squads to Europe, informed Sunder Iyer, who visualized the Vision Players project.
Kadhe will represent India at the ITF U-16 World Group Team event at Mexico in September this year and has won an ITF U-18 Grade IV event in Jordan. Rutuja, India’s leading U-14 player in girls, was the runner- up at the Windmill Cup in Holland. The Vision Programme was created by MSLTA councillor Iyer and Level III coach Bendrey and is being monitored by Bendrey and Vaidya, the MSLTA Chief Coach.
