Tennis Kenya hosts inaugural women in sports mentorship seminar

Tennis Kenya Friday in partnership with Extreme Tennis held a women in sport mentorship seminar, attended by 32 participants themed “Equip to Thrive” at the Nairobi Club.

The inaugural meeting is a part of a general mentorship program for both men and women. It is geared towards empowering the youth and women in sports as well as educate individuals and help them navigate the sports ecosystem.

The presentations at the conference were on contracts and their key elements presented by lawyers specialising in sports representation. The other topics were on psychosocial issues as well as importance of first aid. Other presentations which stressed on importance of mentorship also featured in the conference through examples of how to make a difference in the community.

"Advantage all is a Tennis Kenya/International Tennis Federation initiative to ensure an increase in female participation in tennis. This was a pilot project to the Advantage all initiative. It is a project that Tennis Kenya and Extreme Tennis hope to encourage all the other federations to initiate as part of their projects and is the reason for having an open invite to all the federations to attend.

"This was an extremely successful event that we hope to do again soon we hope to equip every individual we can to thrive and hope that as they do so, they get to equip others along the way. Make proud all those whose shoulders we stand on," said Rosemary Owino,  Kenya's Davis Cup non-playing captain.

The meeting comes a day before Kenya tennis sensation Angela Okutoyi makes her debut at the Australian Open on Saturday.

Ranked 60th in the latest International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior rankings announced on January 3, which is her new career-high, Okutoyi will team up with Moroccan Aya El Aouni in doubles in Traralgon tournament. She will also compete at the Australian Junior Open championships slated for January 22-29.

Okutoyi suffered a shock exit in the first round of J1 Traralgon tennis tournament against lowly-ranked Yilin Yan in a rescheduled singles match in Australia on January 15.

The Africa Under-18 champion, lost in identical straight sets of 6-2, 6-2 against the Australian ranked at position 431.

In attendance were Paurvi Rawal, the women representative at National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) and Irene Limika, a retired medalist in 3,000m steeplechase and a peace ambassador amongst other participants.