State has faults in amateur development:: Arizona Republic

State has faults in amateur development~~~

It's long been a mystery to me why the Southwest section isn't more of a factor in junior tennis. This lengthy story, which appeared last month in the Arizona Republic, attempts to explain the whole development issue. Although it touches on all the points of other stories, I think it would have been more effective to stay on the more specific question of Arizona's lack of tennis development. Here's one quote that got my attention:

Experts say there are several factors that make it difficult to produce top-notch international players in Arizona. Spaniard Rafael Font de Mora, a former touring pro who operates ITUSA Academy in Scottsdale and serves as coach for Shaughnessy and No. 31-ranked Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany, is blunt in his assessment.

"The main reason is the coaching of the players," he said. "There are coaches who don't specialize in the training and development of juniors. The Valley is basically a recreational destination, so there isn't a lot of tradition in developing players.

"Secondly, when there are no top players, it doesn't help produce upcoming players. When you have a top player in your program it helps produce other top players. When you don't, there are no role models. No players for them to see, so they don't produce. The third problem is the level of match play in tournaments. You need good coaching, good players to play against and great competition. I don't think these situations have happened here in Arizona, and it's why junior tennis is pretty weak."

Referring to John Austin, who has been Executive Director of the Southwest section for less than a year, the reporter writes:

Austin also thinks that the lack of a centralized facility in Phoenix, where the best could congregate and play, has hampered player development.

Taking inspiration from Peter Wright's piece I linked to yesterday, couldn't Arizona State be just such a place?