Neil Faudemer, the father of one of the club’s rising stars, said that he, and several other parents of youngsters in the performance squads, are frustrated by the lack of even interim coaching provision for the children.
But officials at the club and at the Channel Islands LTA say that the appointment of a new coach is imminent.
Mark Muhlemann, the outgoing Club Committee Chairman, said: ‘As far as I am aware – I was not involved in the selection process itself – a coach has been offered the job and we would hope he will be starting in January.’ Hugh Raymond of the CILTA, based at Les Ormes, said that he was aware that a revised coaching programme had been put in place after Giacopelli’s departure but said: ‘The biggest problem has been that the performance players have not been dealt with because there was no performance coach, but most of the players come to squad training at Les Ormes.
I have been one of the six people delegated to find a new coach.
I was involved because the LTA is involved in appointing coaches, but to find the right coach quickly is just not possible.
‘Anyway, the good news is that a possible contender has been approached – and he is an excellent choice and has been playing on the circuit for the last few years.’ He added: ‘Jersey has one or two good performance players and those at the top have suffered because they have had no coach.
The time taken to get someone new in has been longer than anticipated but the committee has been working very hard to find the right person.’ Meanwhile, the performance squad players have just one training session, with the CILTA, a week.
‘The rest is down to the kids themselves to go and practise,’ Faudemer said.
‘The club is going to lose junior players because they will do something else if their interest isn’t kept up.’ And he added that he fears for the future of the junior section at the club because the forthcoming agm could see new committee members elected who may not wish to maintain the junior programme.
‘Parents and children have made an enormous commitment to the club,’ Faudemer said.
‘It’s incredibly frustrating that the same commitment doesn’t seem to be coming from the club.’
