We are excited to have launched the project for Côte d’Ivoire with ‘Le Général,’ our good friend Protus, the coaches, and the owners of the tennis courts in Bingerville. With the generous donations, the enthusiasm of the coaches, the support of the parents, and hopefully the collaboration of the Ivorian Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation (ITF), we should be well-positioned to begin this exciting adventure.

We will start in Bingerville (part of Abidjan). The area with two tennis courts will become a club in which children will have coordinated lessons, where the infrastructure will be replaced, where coaches will be able to train more children. The more talented children, willing to progress and go far with tennis, will be selected and have special trainings.

Training sessions

We observed two training sessions: the first took place on Wednesday afternoon with a small group of players. No equipment was distributed at that time, but the warm welcome was truly heartening. It was clear that the children, even after a year, remember who brings them good news!

Saturday was the big day! A larger group of players gathered, and the donations were ready to be distributed: tennis rackets donated by Dutch tennis federation KNLTB, a mobile tennis net donated by Tennis Direct, with special tennis balls donated by the foundation. It felt like a small ceremony.

At the end, we began playing with the children, using the donated rackets and the portable net. But first, they kicked off (as always) with a warm-up!