Hello,

I started coaching Tennis at the age of 23 and now it is 25 years that i am in this amazing proffesion, i let you calculate my age ! i have had the pleasure of working in Corsica , England and the Provence. Today i coach in the south of France in the Luberon Region. My proffesional activities are grouped under the name of Service Gagnant association that i created with my sister . On the other hand and this is the reason i come to you , i invest a lot in the educational actions that Tennis 4 Africa is setting up in favour of the children in Kenya. Last October i organised an enormous collection where i mobilised all the people that work closely with me in Service Gagnant . The succes was massive and we collected 250 kg. of sportequipment (fotos seen below ). I would like to thank again all the people who contributed to collecting all this equipment for our first collection. The first actions led by Tennis 4 Africa in favour of the challenged youths in Kenya started in December 2013. Coach Olivier Touplain.

Tennis 4 Africa , from the idea to the birth of the project :

Trough my proffesional activities , i had the chance to meet a young and generous Tenniscoach from Belguim. Steve Verkouter is a " globe trotter " . he has worked all around the world and particulary in Africa. It was in Kenya after a visit to the slumareas of Western Kenya that he got into contact with the children from the slums that face serious challenges in life like poverty , forced early marriages and orphans , etc. He visited the schools and the local teachers expressed there needs ... Steve who is a tenniscoach with a big heart for people takes some time to think about how he could help these people and shortly after he came back with his project that would consist of an all around plan for tennisdevelopment trough the schools in the poorest areas of Kenya. This Project we proudly call Tennis 4 Africa.

Its in this period ( september 2013) that i got to know Steve and i discovered this amazing project. Since 6 months , Steve and myself unified our ideas and knowhow to lead these positive actions for the kenyan children between age 4 and 16 .

Tennis 4 Africa Goals :

1/ Social : Tenniscoaching in the schools for all the children who want to take part with no exceptions , We are there for all who wants to play this great sport .

2/ Elite : establishing a framework for the most talented and determined Kenyan players , Training , tournaments , and and proffesional perspectives .

3/ Formation : educating the local coaches about the Tennis 4 Africa guidelines. develop and integrate the young players who want it into the Tennis 4 Africa Coaching team. ( formation starts at 16 )

4/ Education : deliver help ( Administrative ,Pro relations) to the young players that have a desire to make a proffesional carreer in sports as player or Coach.

Tennis 4 Africa, the first actions - December 2013 :

4 local coaches and Steve Verkouter work closely to the young players every day and they need educational equipment for the daily Tennistraining. We have collected and then we have send more then 250 kilograms of equipment ( rackets , mobile tennisnets , and full lenght standard tennisnets, tennisshoes , tennisclothes and other accesories...)

We have launched Tennis 4 Africa in 5 schools , this represents over 500 children taking part in T4A daily tennisprogrammes . In the Elite group the best players have participated in The Kenya Junior Open Championships and 3 other major competitions . The formation of the local coaches goes on on a daily basis.

What can we do with this collection :

You and Tennis 4 Africa : We have observed that one Tennis 4 Africa schoolprogramme costs about 700 € for one year , equipment costs, fuel for the displacement of the staff , little reward gifts for the children . What concernes the elite competition Section we need to cover the relative costs of the transport of the players to the tournaments , their registration fees for the tournament and the accomodation and meals during the competition. This represents about 80€ pro player per tournament.

Next April a new school will have the chance to become a part of Tennis 4 Africa. Also Coach Steve will take a group of 8 young players from the Elite group to participate in 2 tournaments in the Kenyan capital Nairobi . we have made a calculation of all costs and this is what we would need to make it all happen :

One set up of a Tennis 4 Africa schoolprogramme = 700 €

8 young players x 160€ (2 tournaments) = 1280€

Total = 1980 €

The children , the coaching Team , the teachers , Steve and myself would like to give a warm thank you for your contributions. This is your winning return for Tennis 4 Africa !!

In case we pass the goal of 1980€ , the extra funds will be putt to use to buy more tennisequipment ( balles , rackets and tennisshoes ).

Un Service Gagnant pour Tennis 4 Africa