Anthony Boyea elected as President of the SVGTA

Newly elected President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tennis Association Anthony Boyea has acknowledged that his task will not be easy but he is committed and passionate about the sport and will continue the work started by past executives.{{more}}

However, he will be doing so with his own style of leadership.

Elevated to the top position at the association’s Annual General Meeting held last Saturday, Boyea told SEARCHLIGHT last Monday via telephone that his immediate task was to get the debt of his organisation to a manageable level.

Without disclosing the extent of the association’s debt, Boyea revealed that this was critical if the sport is to continue to thrive.

“With the help of my other executive members, I plan to really reactivate the fund raising committee which in recent times have not been functioning”, Boyea said.

“In addition I want to ensure a proper data base of members so that their annual membership fees can be collected”, he added.

He also saw as need to get the human resource arm of the association playing a more meaningful role and assume greater prominence in the tennis set up.

But he cautioned that his vision can only be achieved if his executive work as a team.

“I will be stressing team work, rather than people wanting to blow their own trumpet”, Boyea cautioned.

Paralleling the development of the administration arm in conjunction with the actual sport and infrastructure, the tennis administrator of twenty-six years experience said that he will soon be approaching the relevant authorities to have repairs done to courts at the National Tennis Centre at Villa.

“It is my hope that the ITF mini tennis initiative will get back on track soon, in fact we are awaiting a shipment of equipment to get the programme going again to go with the Grass Roots Identification programme which is temporarily on hold and will restart soon”, Boyea projected.

Boyea who served as First Vice President of the last executive led by Grant Connell said that it was never his desire to get the top position as he had declined the post several times.

“This is a critical year for the sport right now, I am in the right position to take up the challenge”, Boyea said.

Among his immediate challenges as head of the tennis body, is to make good of the group five ITF Championships to be hosted here in October in which close to forty countries are expected to participate. This will be the biggest tennis undertaking to be staged by this country.

Boyea’s supporting cast also elected last Saturday include First Vice President Claudius George, Treasurer – Lincoln Caine and Secretary Angella Taylor.

Getting the association members’ nod of approval to serve for the next two years were Assistant Secretary Lorna Edwards and Public Relations Officer Kirby Jackson.

The executive is completed by four committee members – Grant Connell, Sylvina Roberts, Onike Spann and Andy Bentick.