Coaching role influenced Theron's island switch

PIETER THERON is set to leave a lasting mark on Channel Islands tennis in his limited time here. The 33-year-old South African, who has been joined by fellow countryman Niel de Kock in local tennis circles, moved to Guernsey earlier this year after two-and-a-half years in Jersey and through both his playing and coaching he is helping to improve the standard of the sport locally.

He certainly made an impact with the Guernsey Tennis Centre team in the National Clubs League. With Theron at number one, the Sarnians won promotion to the first division this year, something he called 'a great achievement'.

A very amiable and modest man, Theron had to be coaxed into saying what extra ingredient he brought to the team this year.

'I think I do bring a certain professionalism, dedication and drive which helps to push the other guys on. Whatever level you compete at, if you have someone around of a higher standard, it helps to drag you on to the next level.

'You can see that in the juniors now like Patrick Ogier, Rob West and Dominic McCluskey and how well they are doing. Those are almost indications of what they can see and aspire to motivates them to improve.

'The island is so small, any new blood that comes along adds to the competitiveness.'

Originally from Robertson, a small town about an hour from Cape Town, Theron went to university in Stellenbosch and his tennis performances there earned him a place in the South African Universities team.

In 1995 he went on to play in some satellite tournaments in Germany and Austria, which gave him a taste of how good you have to be to make it as a professional.

'When you play in those events, then you realise just what it takes to make it. I am glad I did it, it was a great experience.'

He worked in London for a couple of years, took a year out travelling and returned home but could not find any work that interested him or was financially rewarding. Then Moore Stephens in Jersey offered him a place.

'At that time, I brought only one racket over with me because I thought tennis would hardly be played in Jersey, but I might find someone to have a hit with,' Theron said.

'Of course, I was wrong and slowly and surely I got involved in Jersey tennis, playing and coaching.'

It was his interest in coaching that was part of the motivation for his move to Guernsey to be involved with the performance squads that were once under the guidance of Andrew Fisher because the island does not have the number of qualified coaches that Jersey do.

In time, he would like to see something similar to our performance squads set up in Jersey and also build contacts with a coach in France to give the juniors variety and quality advancement.

'What we want to do is once every term you have two days when the three squads get together, have a training session on the first day and matches on the second, to help them develop,' he said.

Encouragingly, through the success of the Guernsey Tennis Centre NCL team, the progression of youngsters like Heather Watson and the work being done by people such as Theron, the future of tennis in Guernsey is looking healthier all the time.

'It is nice to see that from when I started coaching in January this year and the squads were pretty small, we were getting about eight or 10; we are now getting 20 or so, which is great.

'The more kids playing, the better your chances are of producing someone special,' he said.