THE Barbados Tennis Association is looking to build on the sports’ successes, especially the rise of Darian King, by working on a strategy aimed at continually unearthing new young talent.
Technical director Paul Stewart said the association has already taken the first step with the hosting of three junior programmes.
“One is for beginners, with small nets, very controllable balls and small racquets so we can get kids to achieve at that stage.
Skills
“Then there is the Performance Tennis Initiative for players who want to play tournaments and they are more able to perform skills and techniques at that level,” Stewart explained
He said the third programme is called the High Performance Tennis.
“This is for the ones who already play tournaments internationally. It is geared towards them getting world rankings and to pursue tennis further or get scholarships to the many colleges in the United States who offer tennis scholarships,” he said.
Attention
Though there is an average number of youth attending its programmes, the association will be hoping to grasp the attention of more people with the hosting of two open days, on Saturday and Sunday, at the National Tennis Centre in Wildey, starting 9 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. respectively.
“This is the day for the kids between the ages of five and 14 or anyone who wants to come and experience tennis,” Stewart said.
“All you need is soft shoes. If you have a racquet you can bring it. If not, we provide racquets and balls.
Base
“We have to broaden the base and have many more people exposed to tennis because the more youngsters we get exposed to tennis, the better it is for the development of Barbados tennis,” he added.
The association is hoping to build on the open days by hosting weekly clinics on Saturdays on Sundays. It will be inviting the schools to send students.
The former seven-time Davis Cup captain also said that the association had gotten permission from King to utilise his name and face to promote youth tennis. (RG)
