‘SVG’s tennis is starting to rebuild’ – Connell

There is some hope for tennis in St Vincent and the Grenadines, according to former president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Tennis Association Grant Connell.{{more}}

Assessing the state of the sport in recent times, Connell observed: “St Vincent and the Grenadines is starting to rebuild its name on the regional tennis map.”

Connell was speaking following the successes of Alexia Humphrey and Anastascia White, as well as members of his own Grassroot Tennis Club.

Humphrey and White doubled up to win the Girls Under-14 doubles of the ITF tournament in Barbados last month, while Humphrey copped the singles title of the Trinidad and Tobago leg, with White the runner-up.

And, most recently, in the Caribbean Junior Championships held in Antigua and Barbuda, Akeil De Roche advanced to the main draw before losing to the top seeded Trinidadian Adam Ramkissoon. De Roche secured a seeding of sixth overall in the tournament, while Rio Connell lost in the semi-final of the Consolation Draw to Viraj Sharma of Guyana.

Both De Roche and Connell are part of the Grassroot Tennis Club set-up.

Last year, Antonio Cain, also of the Grassroot Tennis Club, won the boys’ singles title.

“With the recent efforts of the boys at these championships and the girls at the ITF tournament in Barbados and Trinidad, the respective coaches of the players in the persons of Trevor Sam and Keebajah King must be saluted,” Connell acknowledged.

Connell said the 2015 Antigua Junior Championship was of a very high standard and a great experience for the two Vincentian players.

“Hitting an extra 500 balls, training four times a week for three hours a day makes a difference and this could be seen on court by the standard of play of the juniors who were crowned as the eventual winners… It is crucial that our youth travel and experience it for themselves and not just remain in and compete just in St Vincent and the Grenadines, where one can easily get a false sense of superiority on courts,” Connell reasoned.

On behalf of his organization, Connell thanked all the donors, who on the instrumentality of former coach at the GTC Deron Grant and his friends in Oman, supported the team’s travel to Antigua and Barbuda.

At the Antigua outing, Aiden Carter of Trinidad and Ines Berthelot of Guadeloupe were crowned the top boy and girl player, respectively.

Twenty-four boys and 13 girls from nine participating islands competed for the titles that were at stake in the two-day championships.(RT)