SPARC stepping in to help Tennis
SPARC (Sport & Recreation New Zealand) announced today that Tennis NZ is to become a ‘revitalisation sport’ which will see the
organisation receive more focussed support from SPARC.
SPARC Chief Executive, Nick Hill, said that the sport had been languishing for many years and was capable of offering
much more.
“Tennis NZ is currently facing a number of challenges, and as the leader in the sector we have an obligation to help a
sport that’s important to New Zealand and New Zealanders.”
Hill said that SPARC would work alongside Tennis NZ to increase the sport’s capability, as this was the key to
revitalising the sport.
“SPARC will develop a package specifically to drive change and we’re confident that we’ll see improvements in tennis as
we’ve seen with our other revitalisation sports such as Bike NZ and Swimming NZ,” Hill said.
“However, this will not be a quick fix, we’re expecting it to take three years to revitalise Tennis NZ, but we are
expecting this change to deliver prompt and tangible benefits to the tennis community.”
“We want to see our talented juniors like Marina Erakovic receive the kind of support they need to become winners and
role models, as well as see an improvement in the tennis experience for all people who play the sport.”
SPARC invested $300,000 in Tennis NZ in 2004/05.
Tennis is the second highest participation sport in New Zealand behind golf. A total of 317,000 New Zealand adults play
tennis, and 47,200 young New Zealanders also take part in the sport.
ENDS