Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth Stephen Lashley poses for a photo with
officials of the Barbados Tennis Association and some the local juniors in front of the newly-erected billboard.
CO Williams Group Director Neil Weekes (right) handing over the sponsorship cheque to Barbados Tennis Association Vice President Sandra Osbourne.
Thirty-four of the island’s best young players will be going up against some stiff competition from the region and further beyond as the Barbados Tennis Association hosts the 2017 CO Williams Barbados International Junior Tennis Tournament.
With the action serving off from April 8, a total of 164 young players are already registered for competition in the Under-14 and Under-18 Singles main draws with an additional 40 chomping at the bit to take up an opportunity in the Under-18 qualifying event.
The International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit Level 4 event, now in its 23rd year, went unsponsored for close to the last five years. However, the CO Williams Group of Companies has taken up the mantle to help develop junior tennis in Barbados. Speaking during a media conference held yesterday, Group Director Neil Weekes said that he felt it was important to support the cause.
“Junior tennis, for me, is critical. I want us to be able to help as many juniors to tour internationally as we can, to give them as much exposure as we can because there are a lot of opportunities for scholarships and that is something that I think the government should pay special attention to, not only in tennis but sport in general,” he said
Going on to say that the junior team is an exceptionally gifted group of players considering the given accomplishments they have made despite limited resources, Weekes went on to say that the need for international competition was the main reason behind the sponsorship.
“I got a feel for what it is as the Tennis Association’s struggling to find the resources necessary to involve our juniors in as many tournaments as we can internationally. The BTA can throw as many tournaments as they want during the year, but all these juniors need international exposure against players from all over the world.”
Himself a sportsman of some merit, Weekes went on to highlight the importance of sport to the development of well-rounded citizens. “As a sportsperson who played sport at a very high level in my junior years, I believe fully that any complete person needs sport as a part of their life. I think it is important because it teaches you life’s ups and downs. One day you win, the next you are out in the first round. One day you score a hundred, the next you are out on the first ball. That’s life! It teaches you discipline, it teaches you hard work, it teaches you what it is about to succeed and fail at the same time – which is what life is all about!” Weekes said.
The tournament this year has attracted players from every corner of the Caribbean as well as Canada, Chile, Columbia, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Turkey, to name a few to bring up a total of 27 nations represented from around the globe. Having had our last local champion in the Singles event in Darian King back in 2009, Barbados’ hopes rest on the shoulders of the likes of Robert Hayden, the highest ranked local junior at 1557, Kaipo Marshall, Kyle Frost, Romani Mayers, Kyle Griffith, Jamie Lewis, Sanaa Hewitt, Hannah Chambers, Gabrielle Leslie and Tangia Riley-Codrington to name a few. To our credit, some of these names are fresh off national duty at the Junior Davis Cup and North America and Caribbean Pre-Qualifying Championships and the Junior Fed Cup in El Salvador.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, was also present and during his address, he echoed the sentiments of Weekes and said that he believed more could be done outside of pursuing scholarships to secure a a future for the island through sports. “Of course, that does not mean that more cannot be done. I think over the years, as we are now coming to grips with the important role that sports can play in the Barbados economy, I believe that once properly positioned, that sports as an industry can help to further transform our economy and create a more-diversified economic space.”
Minister Lashley also took the opportunity to urge the Tennis Association and others to embrace more strategic governance structures as that type of outlook was necessary for development in the constantly changing sports landscape.
“It is going to be very important in the years ahead for federations such as the Barbados Tennis Association to consider themselves as sporting businesses, while of course having a developmental role, and in doing that, seeking to achieve what their predecessors would not have achieved in previous years.” Lashley said.