November 26, 2014
As 2014 comes to a close,This Sporting Life will start highlighting the upcoming events in 2015, so any event organizer is welcome to send details of their sports event to info#baliadvertiser.biz or info#balisportsmag.com for publication in this column.
TENNIS NEWS
As regularly reported in this column, the lack of success by Indonesia in the international sports arena can often be traced to the NSA’s (National Sports Associations) and their inability for whatever reason to nurture and support Indonesian sports talent.
Case in point, Bali’s own Tami Grende, Indonesia’s best junior tennis player, whose talents were considered not good enough by the Indonesian Tennis Association (PELTI) to include her in the Indonesian team for the recent Youth Olympics in China, but good enough to be noticed half a world away by the prestigious University of Washington in Seattle, a Division 1 NCAA school, who have just recruited Tami for their women’s tennis team starting in the northern autumn 2015. As University of Washington head coach Robin Stephenson is reported. “We are very excited about the signing of Tami for next season,” said Stephenson. “She brings a tremendous amount of experience and success at a high level. Additionally, she is a first rate individual that possesses the characteristics that we look for in our student-athletes and she will make an immediate impact both on and off the courts.
Tami is one of the most accomplished junior players in the world. In 2014 Tami won the Junior Wimbledon Doubles Championship, the Junior Canadian Open Doubles Championship, and the Grade 1 ITF Singles Title in Sarawak, Malaysia where she defeated the no. 1 junior player in the world (Shilin Xu) in the finals. Tami also competed in the Junior U.S. Open this summer reaching the quarterfinals in doubles and the Round of 32 in singles defeating the number 31 player in the world, Sophia Kenin, along the way. Additionally, she has also competed for Indonesia in Fed Cup play and has been ranked as high as no. 41 in the ITF Junior world rankings.
“Tami is a huge addition to our program,” added Stephenson. “She brings with her a wealth of international playing experience and knows how to win on big stages. She’s proven that she knows what it takes to be successful and has a lot of potential and room for improvement. We’re looking forward to having her join the Husky family and help take our program to the next level.”
Funny how a leading university 5,000km away can appreciate Tami’s talent but closer to home, the Indonesian Tennis Federation seems blind to them. Tami is now preparing for the Australian Open in January, 2015.
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY NEWS
Bali Sports Foundation’s wheelchair rugby (WR) program had the honour of a special guest coach last week. Allan Chartrand member of the silver medal winning Canadian team in the 2004 Athens Paralympics, which was featured in the award winning documentary Murderball, dropped by to run a coaching session at Bali International School and see for himself Indonesia’s wheelchair rugby program. Allan in Bali on a diving trip, took time out from his holidays to spend an afternoon with the team, recently placed 4th in the 2014 Asian Para Games in Incheon, Korea.
Allan was a member of the Canadian team,coached by Joe Soares chronicled by directors Henry Alex-Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro in the documentary Murderball, with the rivalry between Canada and USA wheelchair rugby teams being the one of the central themes of the film. Allan recalls, ”we had cameras following us for close to 2 years from the 2002 World Championships up to the 2004 Athens Paralympics. At the Paralympics, we were so focused on beating the USA, that we when we beat them in the semi–finals after beating Australia in the quarters, we (Canadians) thought we had the gold in our pockets and dropped our guard and let New Zealand who had placed 6th in the prelimineries, in and New Zealand beat us to win the gold.”
Murderball hit theaters in 2005 and immediately garnered praise for the way it smashed stereotypes surrounding the disabled.
Can a quadriplegic drive? Live alone? Have sex?
(Yes, yes and, most definitely, yes).
“Nobody expected it to get as big as it did,” Allan said.
The movie was a critical smash, nominated for a Best Documentary Academy Award and the subject of lengthy profiles in newspapers across the world in its day.
Back in the present, after putting the local wheelchair rugby players through their paces in their new WR chairs, provided by sponsorship from Louis Dreyfus Commodities, asked to review the BSF wheelchair rugby program, Allan reflects “all programs have to start somewhere and the fact that the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) is a strong supporter of the Indonesia program is a very healthy sign. With more experience and confidence Indonesia can compete strongly in SE Asia, whilst there is still a large gap to the powerhouse countries like mine (Canada), Australia, New Zealand and Japan.”
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