Tennis - a hobby on the side or a possible career
Raphael and Katrina Sammut, two outstanding Maltese tennis players
interview with Raphael and Katrina Sammut
about Raphael
age: 16
Training hard from the age of six, Raphael is a promising young Maltese tennis player. He trains hard with his coach, Marco Cappello, as well as under the supervision of his father. Raphael is now part of the men’s national team under Gordon Asciak as coach.
The young player has been continuously ranked among the top two tennis players under 16.
about Katrina
age: 13
At only 13 Katrina has proven high records in her tennis performance. Training from the age of five, the young athlete, like her brother, is under the Malta Tennis Federation junior academy. Katrina is ranked Number One in girls under 14 and under 16.
Both Raphael and Katrina Sammut were selected by the Malta Tennis Federation to represent the country at international events including Tennis Europe Summer Cups (under 12, Under 14 and Under 16), the European Junior Championships and COJI (Island Games).
Useful links:
http://www.maltatennisfederation.com/news.php
http://www.maltatennisfederation.com/gallery_COJI2012.php
http://www.maltatennisfederation.com/gallery_training_201202.php
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110107/tennis/double-for-raphael-and-katrina-sammut-at-vltc-junior-open.344232
http://www.sportinmalta.com/tennis-juniors-perform-well-in-the-uk/
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In Discussion
3 Comments
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Tony Cappello
Sep 23rd 2012, 00:00
Well done to these 2 young players ....dream the the dream....if you don't aspire to achieve ..then you never will ...plus I know Marco is a very good coach...although i may be a biased as he's my cousins son ...lol
stephen koludrovic
Sep 22nd 2012, 10:54
Some of our local TV stations could help trying to promote the sport by showing some games on TV.
Quite frankly I would rather watch a tennis game than some talk show that I am bombarded with on TV.
Adrian Camilleri
Sep 18th 2012, 12:21
Good luck to the pair of them. Its great to see two promising youngsters chasing a dream.
I come from a tennis background myself and the path to professional status is stratospherically tough.
We've had many promising junior players over the years who have threatened to hit the bigtime from Mark Schembri and Lisa Camenzuli in the 1990's to Matthew Asciak and Elaine Genovese in the 2000's. None of them have turned professional (although, to be fair, they did earn themselves a world ranking) and I very much doubt that any of them are making a living from tennis.
That said, just because the road is a hard one, does not mean that it is impossible to traverse or that it is an unworthy one to attempt. Tennis has taught me much more than how to hit a ball with a racquet and I'm a better person because of it. Sport builds character and teaches the value of hard work.
I'm sure both of these kids will come out of the sausage grinder with life skills they never imagined they were acquiring at the time.
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