What: The Tennis Tree

Where: YWCA, 1 Middleton Row (beside Peter Cat)

Programmes: Tennis coaching, fitness drills, yoga

Enrol at: Age four and above

Fees: Rs 1,500 once a week for an hour

Timings: Monday to Friday (2.30pm-3.30pm; 3.30pm-4.30pm; 4.30pm-5.30pm); Saturday and Sunday (7am-noon)

Email: thetennistree@gmail.com 

An instant feel-goodness washes over you as you enter The Tennis Tree, nestled in the heart of the city, off Park Street. A cheery Shivika Burman greets you. Tennis is all the Ballygunge girl has known all her life. She has now swept aside all the “frustration and disappointment” that has come her way as a player and taken a “big decision” to start The Tennis Tree with which she plunges into the world of coaching. “We have the vision… we are all giving it more than 100 per cent,” Shivika tells t2, as she settles down for a heart-to-heart ahead of the official opening on December 3.
 
Congratulations for The Tennis Tree! What’s the idea behind the venture?

It signifies growth. We are trying to build a community for sports. And tennis, because that’s what we know. 

So, you are not playing professionally any more?

I am not because I would say, in a way, I was forced not to. It was always my plan to eventually get into coaching, but not so soon. A couple of years back, I was at my peak. I had a surgery, but I still came back, won a tournament last year in Egypt.

So, I could have got back, you know, but there was just no support. I have been the only player… men’s and women’s from Bengal... who has been consistently ranked on the international circuit for the past 12 years… since I started playing the juniors and then transited into the women’s. I was travelling all by myself all over the world for the past six-seven years and I just couldn’t do it. As a sportsperson, you cannot. You need a team or someone there with you… either a physio or a coach or a mentor. Finally, we had to make a decision. Six months back, I told my dad (Satyajeet Burman) that that’s it. There was no point doing it for the sake of doing it. There was no backup. We didn’t have a coach to train with. My dad helped me as much as he could.

It must have been heartbreaking…

It was because I was still doing well. Twenty eight is no retirement age, people are peaking at 28-29… so, I could have easily played for another three-four years. 

With the academy, are you plugging a need gap?

I felt Calcutta was lacking something like this. I always wanted to coach. From my experience, I didn’t get anything. So, I thought I wanted to do something so that I could give back to the sport and help the kids. There are a lot of talented kids… parents used to come up to me and say they wanted their kids to play but there was no direction. There are a few centres but they are full. If you are not a member of a club, it’s difficult. This is open for everyone. We have a holistic approach.

How did you find out about this court?

When Farid (Alam, head coach, 32) was young, he had played here one day with a friend. He is the one who told me about it. And the YWCA was kind enough to give us the opportunity to run a centre here.... Farid has been coaching for the past 12 years. So, he has a lot of experience. Both of us were playing the circuit. He had to stop earlier because he had no funds. He was a top junior from Bengal.

Why did you start with clay courts?

Natural clay is always good for the body, even for elderly people. For them it’s even tough to play on hard courts. For little kids, too, playing on hard courts is not easy. On grass courts, you can play for only four months of the year. Clay courts dry up soon. The whole atmosphere and infrastructure has a European feel to it. That was also one of the reasons for going for clay courts. 

You’ve had a soft launch. How is it going?

It’s been a couple of months… and touchwood, we already have about 50 members. We also have ladies coming in for the ladies clinic. We see a lot of moms in the morning, getting busy with their kids… dropping them to school. They don’t really get time and chance to actually go and work out. We thought they can come and play, do some fitness drill. We have a very good fitness trainer in Tayyab Alam, Farid’s younger brother who helps us train. He is now with Mohammedan Sporting Club. We’ll also get a nutritionist and a sports psychiatrist.

I would say we have an excellent team, about six-seven coaches... we are all in our late ’20s, early ’30s… so a very young team… and all have played for Bengal. About five of us have played nationals. My friend Dipti (Srivastava) is helping us on weekends. She used to play tennis but then got injured. Farid, Dipti and I have played the international circuit.

We have some good top junior players… Aleena, who is actually Farid’s daughter… very talented… she is only seven… then Keshav (Goel), Sumeira Jaiswal… they recently won a tournament in U-12. Some of our advanced batch have tournament players. We have eight of them, all playing for Bengal. For them also, we need some financial aid. We are coaching them, but we need some support so that they can travel and play tournaments. We are making them work hard but they don’t have the aid to leave the city to play.

We want to run a good programme for them. But then we would need some kind of a support, either from private sectors or the government… we also want to do something for underprivileged kids because during the day the courts are empty, we want the kids to come and we’ll teach them how to play and may be provide them with food. We are doing whatever we can from our side. But ultimately, we’ll need funds. If we are choosing a few kids, we’ll need someone to support them for at least two-three years.

We really want this to do well. This is our dream, our passion. Since we have opened, we haven’t taken a single day off. 

Saionee Chakraborty