BTA Players: Daniel, Jamie and Kilian
One of the key principles behind the mission of our tennis academy is to instill into our players the idea of training as a never ending journey, whose greatest value lies in the process itself, not its end result.
We believe that sport is an ever evolving task, in which you never reach your final outcome as there is always room for improvement. Not becoming ever fully complete is the most exciting idea as based on that growth never stops and expands depending on our effort and goals.
We asked three of our annual players: Kilian, Jamie and Daniel to share there views on how the experience of training full time professional tennis at our tennis academy impacts on their daily life and this is what they had to say.
Daniel Tulgara, our 17-year-old player from Moldova has been with us over 5 years now. In the process, he had to deal with a lot of challenges, including injuries, major changes in the technique, and yet it is wonderful to see how the daily experiences of tennis never ceases to teach him values that are most important assets in life:
‘Tennis definitely has a lot of influence in my life, it teaches me discipline, confidence, courage and so much more that impacts my life for the better and I don’t know where I would be without it.’
Jamie Struthers, our 16-year0old player from Australia, emphasises how daily training instills into him organisation and clear focus in terms of what needs to be prioritised. In our view for teenagers this is of key importance.
‘Playing tennis full time has influenced my daily life as I have had to become more organised to accommodate my studies amidst a busy schedule, which is quite enjoyable for me because I don't have too much free time which has helped me to focus better on and off the court.’
Kilian Kok, our player from Switzerland, focuses on the practical aspects of daily training, which in our opinion are hugely important as they don’t allow players to get bored and add purpose to their everyday life:
‘First, it influences where I live, where I can find the optimal conditions (in terms of games, surfaces, physics, tournaments) to achieve my goals. Second, it has influence on my studies, following my training and my competitions. I study according to the free time I have. Third, it has influence on holidays, dates on which I can return to Switzerland and see my family, friends. Decided according to the programming of training periods, tournament periods. The program which depends in particular on the objectives set and the proposal for both national and international tournaments. In summary, tennis has a huge influence on my life, all my decisions and choices whether personal, family or school are taken in parallel with my training or competitions.’
It is great to see how training tennis imparts order and discipline on the players’ life, how it teaches them long-term planning, scheduling and organisation.
To sum it up, none of the players talks of trophies, rankings, victories or feelings associated with winning and accumulating results. All of them highlight the values of everyday training as impacting their character and lifestyle in a positive way, which for us is the greatest achievement.