The National Sports Council (NSC) should be commended for staging a very successful inaugural Inter-Parish Road Tennis Competition which climaxed in front of thousands of spectators on Saturday night at the Dover courts.
Bad weather and a number of other activites had delayed the conclusion of the tournament, which started last year but which picked up momentum and fans as the caravan moved throughout the country exposing an indigenous Barbadian sport to all.
No praise could be too high for tournament coordinator Philip “Foff” Garner who filled the roles of organiser, scorer and observer with his knowledge of the sport and everyone’s “business”, enhancing his performance as commentator and MC.
George Shepperd, Neil Murrell and David Haynes of the NSC went beyond the call of duty in working at the courts before the start and long after the bewitching hour, when the fixtures at Road View, St Peter, Vauxhall and Dover in Christ Church were concluded.
Moving the game around not only piqued interest in areas outside of Bush Hall and Belfield, but one saw an enhancement of the courts and venues in those areas as well.
The efforts of Terry Dottin in serving as observer for the entire tournament was remarkable. He was unflinching in carrying out his duties while soaking up the harsh criticisms from partisan fans who turned out to watch a particular match or player and left at their convenience.
However, there are some areas that the NSC must work on in anticipation of the predictable expansion of the interest for the second competition this year.
The absence of the island’s top two players in Kim Holder of St George and Julian “Michael Jackson” White of St Michael must not reoccur, barring injury, in the second edition.
The structure of the team compostion must be addressed as the two-players-per-team regulation meant that with a tie-breaker, a draw ultimately determined the outcome of a battle, as happened on three occasions in Road View and on the night of the finals.
Of course, one can argue that well-balanced teams like St Michael’s would not be concerned by the luck of the draw.
On the other hand, the thousands at Dover and watching on TV should not have been deprived of a tie-breaker battle between Anthony “Ears” Mitchell and the equally unbeaten Michael Jean, as happenned because Mitchell’s name was not drawn.
Three players per team would remove the need for a tie-breaker, and four players would be even better, offering a team the choice of a sub in the event of injury to one of the three selected for the night.
Thanks to the Inter-Parish Competition, road tennis has now joined the small group of sports to enjoy live coverage on national television.
To maintain that growth, the tennis fraternity should consider doing what table tennis has done in reducing the length of sets for the sake of the media, fans and players.
Before I am told that my sport – volleyball’s – regular sets end at 25 points to road tennis’ 21, one must consider that a point is scored in a men’s volleyball game in about 1.5 seconds.
I have seen rallies between Mitchell and White extending beyond two minutes.
Finishing the road tennis sets at 11 or 15 would mean that the players would fight for every point since they would not have a long period between 10 and 16 when anything can happen.
I do not believe that such changes would stop the better players and the better teams from winning as happened at Dover.
But it might mean that more fans would be able to enjoy the climax earlier rather than going to bed without seeing the end of the late night show.