MTC announced that it is sponsoring Namibian tennis player Jurgens Strydom with N$ 200 000 for the 2006 tennis season. The sponsorship includes a high tech cell phone with N$ 2000.00 airtime per month. He will also get a bonus of N$ 5000.00 should he reach the semi-finals and N$ 10 000 for winning any international tournament. Speaking at the official handover of the sponsorship, MTC’s Corporate Services Manager Albertus Aochumub said MTC decided to renew its contract with Strydom in recognition of what he achieved in 2005. Mr Aochumub also said he hoped that the sponsorship would help Strydom to improve his game and ability to represent Namibia on international level.

The president of the Namibia Tennis Association (NTA) Mr Bob Mould reminded Jurgens that he has nothing to lose as he would not be under so much pressure as he had been the previous year when he played as a junior. Jurgens thanked MTC for giving him the opportunity to further his career and to be able to participate in tournaments all over the world. He said: "I have learned a lot from the best players and coaches and this can help me take it to the next level." As a professional, he now has to start from the bottom and work his way up the ranking system again. Even though this is going to be stressful and very challenging it has always been his dream to play professionally and he thanked MTC for making his dream a reality. The sponsorship is enabling him to train at an international tennis training centre in Spain from where he will also be participating in tournaments to improve his senior ranking.

The Cornella International Tennis Centre in Barcelona, Spain, is officially recognized by the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and is also a partner of the Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity program. After training at the ITF Centre in Pretoria for the past two years on an ITF and Olympic Solidarity scholarship Jurgens is now able to continue training with the assistance of international coaches and mentors. The Centre is used as base by hundreds of tennis players to prepare for the 2006 international tennis season. It is close to all the major events in Europe and offers accommodation and professional coaching on clay and hard court surfaces as well as a training gymnasium. Individual programmes are offered for any player depending on the player’s age and current level of performance. The individual programmes include technical and physical work as well as competitions played prior to the actual international events. During the training period a technical team is in charge of coaching the players at all the tournaments such as the ATP Satellites, the Futures and Challenger series, the ITF Circuit and also WTA tournament

Jurgens will be returning to Namibia in April for a week to help coach development players as part of the Namibia Tennis Association’s Development programme.