THE International Tennis Federation Regional Centre will miss the serves of coach Talor Wain as he looks to a new challenge next year after spending two years in the country.
His last assignment is taking the Pacific Oceania Under-14 to New Zealand this week and the U18 team to Australia in January.
Under his guidance the RTC has seen the rise of many young players including Marcia Tere-Apisah, the youngest winner of the Fiji Open title.
Papua New Guinea's Marcia won the women's title earlier this year at the age of 13.
Fiji's Christopher Hargrove recently received a world junior ranking.
Wain, who took over as the head coach of the ITF regional tennis centre in 2008 from Ross Murray, will depart with fond memories.
The 27-year-old Australian believes he has achieved his goals at the RTC and it is now time to move on.
Wain said the last two years has been full of experience.
He said it took a while for him to adjust to the life style in Fiji.
"We had a very slow start last year, but since then things have been fantastic," Wain said.
"One of the first things I noticed with the players here is that they are not spoiled and really play for the love of the game. Most of them choose to come from overseas or around Fiji to live, study and train here and are grateful for every opportunity that comes their way. This attitude separates them from a lot of Australian players, and makes all the kids that I work with here fantastic to deal with.
"There are a number of difficulties about coaching in the region, but for most of them it just takes a little more patience, and some thinking outside of the box to make things happen. I have had great support from the Fiji Tennis Association, but it is the seeing the kids grow and develop on court and off that has been the most worthwhile part."
Wain took up tennis as a four-year-old. He quickly established himself as a good player, winning a lot of junior events which saw him being selected in the Albury team to play in the New South Wales Junior Champi-onship on many occasions.
"I was lucky enough to play overseas as a junior as well," Wain said.
"One of the great things about tennis is you never really have to stop playing, you just get a little slower. I'm not playing as much as I used to, but I still play as often as possible."
Wain got his first stint of coaching at the age 14 when he started to help his coach Phil Shanahan in Albury.
He started from the beginner level gaining confidence and developing experience.
"In the next few years, I started branching out and coaching people of all ages and abilities," Wain said.
"I was lucky to be working under great coaches when I was young. I picked up so much information from them, and importantly the ways of getting that information across. Playing tennis is really tough, as it is always in a competitive environment, by coaching you really get to share the enjoyment of the game."
After spending two years at the RTC, Wain says the time is right to move on and look for a fresher challenge.
Wain said he aims to land a coaching position in the United States.
"I think part of being a good coach, and a major part of being a successful athlete in any sport is always having more goals to reach," Wain said.
"You always need something to continue to motivate you to achieve more. One of the first things we wanted to achieve was a change in culture in the centre. We wanted the players to have more ownership over their own improvement, for them to understand that in the end they are in control of their development -- not coaches or parents.
"Once players were willing to push themselves more the training and match play intensity and effort really improved. During a radio interview in Australia at the beginning of the year, I commented that our goal for the year was to bridge the gap between ourselves and our Australian and New Zealand counterparts. This year a number of players have had good wins in international competition, and three of our young girls defeated seeds at the NZ national championships earlier in the year."
Wain says tennis in Fiji has a bright future.
He said there are plans to send more locals on ITF scholarships to the United States.
"Tennis in Fiji is beginning to look strong again," Wain said.
"Chris Hargrove got a world ranking this year, which is not an easy thing to do. Two young girls Annie Shannon and Tarani Kamoe have showed a lot of improvement. They have been very competitive against Australian and New Zealand opponents in their own age group. Hopefully, we will be sending four players on scholarship to the US next year, two of these being Fijian players. Outside of the centre, the Suva Tennis Association is working hard and organising tournaments all year round, and coach Sachin Reddy has a strong program in Nadi."
Wain will finish his assignment by guiding the Pacific Oceania Junior team to New Zealand in December.
