Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna was quite excited with his Academy (RBTA) stitching a partnership with RaK’s Pallikkoodam here a few days ago.
It is Bopanna’s first venture outside his home State (Karnataka) and he plans to bring in a new dimension to tennis coaching in Coimbatore. “I will be focussing on enabling holistic development at the grassroot level,” he said.
“We will be introducing a balanced curriculum with equal emphasis on fitness and tennis skills to young children looking to learn the sport,” he added.
The junior development centre will be headed by coach Arpan Lakhani. “He has been with me for the past four years, running the junior development programme in Bengaluru. He, along with the entire team, will be moving to Coimbatore,” said Bopanna.
Lakhani from Maharashtra, along with a team of highly-trained coaches and qualified fitness trainers will oversee the programme that offers an integrated routine at various levels — from beginners to intermediate.
Bopanna will also be actively involved. “The entire programme will be monitored by me and our most experienced coach (M. Balachandran), who has a coaching experience of 30 years,” he said.
“Coimbatore has always had some amazing talents but now I feel it just an added structure in place to help these young children turn into champions,” he added.
RaK’s had earlier tied-up with Pullela Gopi Chand’s Academy and Raman Vijayan Sports School. It is the first of its kind facility that provides sports training along with school education as well as on-site residential facilities.
