Karachi
People ask me to choose between coaching and playing, why do I have to choose when I can do both?” Pakistan number one ranked tennis player Sara Mansoor asks and rightly so, as she was on the panel of Pakistan’s first online tennis coaching course as the only woman International Level II coach. Sara is a determined woman, she began playing tennis early on, but she calls it late, “I started playing late, I must have been 12 or 13 years old,” but starting late did not mean that she would quit early or give up easily. A much overlooked fact is that she bagged the South Asian Games medal twice, bronze medal in singles and mixed doubles in Guwahati and then again in 2019 in Nepal at the mixed doubles event. Sara believes that the greatest work needs to be done in the field by interlinking the coaching and playing, and so far Pakistan tennis has not seen much success because of the gap. The workshop happened on June 26-28 with more than 300 participants in it, but for Sara the most important factor to highlight was that coaching is a beginning for many involved in the tennis community. “We do have more coaches than players at times, and at the workshop, I have just highlighted the point that if one wants to coach then they need to strive for excellence too. There should be a change in perception as well, coaching is not about just standing and looking at the athletes hit the ball, it is so much more than that,” Sara told media person. —Agencies
