Danielle Luttig

“Wonder what I’ll be wearing when playing at Wimbledon.” These were the words at the tender age of 6 while watching how Maria Sharapova impresses the crowds at Wimbledon. Daniëlle Luttig started her tennis career - with vision!

Today, 6 years later, she has achieved a lot towards making her dream become reality. 2011 was a year with many highlights so far. After relocating to Cape Town at the beginning of this year, Western Province (WP) Tennis invited her for the under 13 trials which was held in February. (She is still 11 years old). She was selected for the WP A-team which participated in an Inter-Provincial tournament in Bloemfontein. WP performed well and played in the final where they lost against KZN. Following that Daniëlle was invited for the under 12 national trials and to our absolute delight she was selected as one of 6 players that will represent South Africa in 2 international tournaments! This will take place from 26 November until 10^th of December 2011 in Malaysia. She was also recently flown by SA Tennis to the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre where a selected group of South African juniors were put through intense sport tests to establish development programs for talented future senior SA players.

It is important to note that in order to reach these heights she had to work very hard. She started coaching at the Riaan Venter Tennis Academy at the age of 6. With guidance from, and practicing with her older brother, she has developed her skills. She practiced many hours per week and within 3 years she was travelling to different South African Tennis Association (SATA) tournaments around the country. This required even more hours on the court. Currently her coaches at Curro Private School Durbanville, Carine and Elizma, is making sure she practice correctly, enough and that she get strong school competition to improve her game.

The SATA tournaments are always during the holidays and over week-ends. When other young children were probably enjoying a carefree holiday she was fighting tennis battles on the court. Every day of a tournament you must be on the court at 6am for warm-up exercises before a long day of singles and doubles matches. Imagine winter weather early in the morning in Gauteng or in the Free State. These tournaments normally last about 5 days demanding strict diet and going to bed early. Also remember that you lose many matches which could be demotivating and creating a lot of strain. Not only for the player, but also for parents that feels sorry with them. This actually needs to happen and should be seen as building your strength; not only physically but also mentally. If you are committed you will practice even harder and strive to apply even better game strategies on court. That is why being selected for your country is a reward for years of hard work that you have endured.

The biggest lesson though is that you must realise that you never “have arrived” yet. Being selected to compete for your country internationally is another door that has opened with opportunities. You might have set yourself some goals but we also belief that God has a purpose for your life and you must pursue it.

And Wimbledon?

Maybe one day Daniëlle will play at Wimbledon, or maybe in a few years she might not even be playing tennis anymore, but whatever the case, at this moment she is using a talent God gave her. Furthermore tennis is a “school” that teaches her life skills; something she could apply when fulfilling her role as a woman in South Africa.

Danie Luttig

Cell: 082 771 4617

Daniëlle’s dad

Oct 2011