Plaza Dilao, Paco, Manila, January 3, 2009.  Today, during SMART Sports Tennis Camp's regular training session, upcoming Filipino tennisters gave visiting age-groupers from Kobe, Japan a sample of the competition they would offer as they were pitted by Coach Butch Bacani against each other at the Philippine Columbian Association Tennis Club.  They were joined by a Chinese delegation of age-groupers who came much earlier to prepare for the January 5-9 Andrada Cup.

With their wards testing each other's mettle on-court, SMART Sports led discussions with leaders of the Japanese and Chinese delegations.

SMART Sports'Bong Mojica met with Tatsuo Sakamoto, President of Hyogoken Tennis Association of Kobe Japan.  They were joined by Michael Hu, President of American Golf and Tennis Academy (AGTA) of Beijing.  The three discussed the possibility of a "Tri-meet" or a "Triangular Visitation" program between and among the Age groupers from the Philippines, Kobe, Japan and Beijing, China.

Mojica, Sakamoto and Hu see the proposed exchange program as advantageous to participants in terms of exposure and training, besides other educational benefits of traveling for junior tennis players. The Philippines can host the group from mid November to mid March, the winter months of Japan and China. During these months, the Japanese and the Chinese would prefer playing in Manila where the weather and climate would be coolest and most comfortable for them.

The Chinese delegation of age-groupers, organized by the American Golf and Tennis Academy (AGTA) of Beijing, had joined the SMART Tennis camp a week earlier. Comprising a dozen players —eight (8) girls 16, 14 and 12 under with four (4) boys, 18, 14 and 12 under-—the Chinese juniors have been playing tune-up games with SMART age groupers to prepare for the Andrada Cup at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Complex in Manila on January 5 to 9, 2009.

                  Gerry Palabyab, Vice President for Special Projects of PHILTA, and Publisher of PhilTENNNIS.com introduced the Beijing group headed by Michael Hu, President of AGTA of Beijing to Coach Butch Bacani when the former came to visit Manila on December 8, 2009.

AGTA's Hu had earlier contacted Palabyab through the PHILTENNIS.COM web site where the Chinese learned about the Andrada Cup Age Group tournament.

AGTA is a privately run institution which offers both academic and sports training and instruction from K to 12 graders (elementary and secondary levels). This concept of focused sports development (merging and packaging of both academic and sports training) has been adopted and has been producing good results in Japan, Thailand and China.  Palabyab, both of PHILTA and PhilTENNNIS.com, sees this as a viable approach to revitalize and fast-track sports development in the Philippines, particularly tennis.

Their visit marks the second time the Japanese Age groupers came to visit Manila under the auspices of the Junior Tennis Association of the Philippines (JUNTAPHIL), led by Diana Barcelona, president. – By PhilTENNIS.com