The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Level 2 regional coaching seminar for high-class players has ended in Turkmenistan. It was held at the Tennis Complex of the Ashgabat Olympic Village, where the introductory course «Play Tennis» for training coaches was held in 2020, and a higher-level coaching seminar Level 1 was held in 2023. And now, for the first time, an educational regional coaching seminar of the ITF professional level Level 2 was held here. This became possible due to the assignment of the status of «Educational and Training Centre of the Asian Region» to the Turkmen Tennis Complex. The corresponding certificate was presented on the 1st of June, 2024, at a ceremony in the Olympic Village of the capital by the ITF representative for the development of tennis in Asia, Seyedamir Borghei.
The ITF Level 2 Regional Coaching Seminar brought together 15 coaches – 11 from Turkmenistan and 4 from Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, who had an excellent opportunity to improve their professional level to prepare high-class tennis players. The course lecturers were renowned specialists of the International Tennis Federation – Seyedamir Borghei from Iran and Igor Shelyakin from Uzbekistan.
Over the course of 12 days, the seminar participants completed 37 online courses on the ITF Online Academy platform, after which they were admitted to five exams related to on-court game practice, conducting individual and group lessons, testing and writing essays. In case of successful certification, the course participants will receive an international Level 2 certificate, which confirms a high level of training and gives the right to represent players at the largest tournaments. In addition, this is a large store of knowledge that the coach acquires to improve his qualifications.
«The International Tennis Federation believes that in order to prepare successful players it is important to have three «c» - a court, a coach and competitions. If all three of these elements are present, then it is possible to produce high-class tennis players who need a court, competitions and a coach to improve their skills. That is why we are now placing a great emphasis on the educational training of specialists», -said Eziz Dovletov, Chairman of the Turkmenistan Tennis Federation (TTF) and Vice President of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), during the seminar.
According to him, every year there are more and more tennis players in Turkmenistan. And in order for them to participate in prestigious competitions more often, time must be devoted to training specialists and coaches.
«During the two weeks of the ITF Level 2 course, our coaches received a wealth of knowledge, with which they will prepare worthy athletes of a higher level. So by the end of the year, we will already have a sufficient pool of coaches with a Level 2 degree. And this will give impetus to even greater development of tennis not only in the capital, but also in the velayats», -E. Dovletov emphasised.
He also added that currently the educational system of the Turkmenistan Tennis Federation is licensed and approved by the International Tennis Federation, which enables the TTF to independently conduct «Play tennis» courses and award certificates on behalf of the ITF. In this regard, the Turkmenistan Tennis Federation has planned to hold a «Play tennis» seminar for entry-level coaches at the Asian Region Training Centre from 28th to 31st of August, 2025. The lecturers for this course will be Level 2 professional coaching license holder Mirali Gasanov and Level 1 coach Alexander Shleykin, who has been the captain of the Turkmenistan men's team at the Davis Cup for many years and currently trains a large number of juniors.
turkmenistan.gov.tm
