Following the recent launch of the Second Annual National Inter-Schools Tennis Tournament play got underway Monday at the National Tennis Centre (NTC).
At the launch Manager of the NTC, Ricardo Bowe, commented on the success of last year’s competition which attracted over 230 players. He expects that number to increase this time around with the influx of new players and schools taking part.
Addressing the media Bowe said: “We are covering the full gamet in terms of schools. We have a primary division a secondary division and tertiary division which is one of the areas we don’t pay attention to all the time, but I believe tertiary sports is just as important as primary.”
Clives Jules of the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports said “the ministry is quite pleased to partner again with the National Tennis Association for this competition. With the Commonwealth Youth Games taking place here in 2017, we are looking for excellence in all our sporting disciplines and of course the tennis association has shown that they can deliver an excellent tournament. We look forward to improving on last year’s tournament and make this one even better.”
Jules expressed his appreciation to LUCELEC and Computer World for assisting with the tournament and said “we hope this relationship with the corporate community will remain and grow, as we look to develop tennis and look to sustain the product that we have.”
In closing Jules said “we are very happy to partner with the sponsors, the St Lucia Tennis Association and the Ministry of Education which we work with very closely with to deliver school sports in this country.”
Theophelia Charles of the Ministry of Education, feels this tournament is an excellent opportunity for students to not only display their skills, but also interact and socialize with others. She would like to see the sport continue to develop and grow not only in Castries, but places like Dennery, Soufriere, Choiseul, and Micoud, who may not have the proper facilities.
Inventory and Sales Representative at Computer World, Samantha Gilbert, said it is flattering to part of this and are happing to assist. We always welcome this kind of development in our youth and feel this is a great initiative, it is awesome and we want to be part of it.”
Corporate Communications Assistant at LUCELEC, Bernardie Regis said: “Support for the National Schools Tennis Tournament compliments our support of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Program, as a catalyst for the total development of student athletes in St Lucia, especially as this country looks ahead to hosting the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017 and also for the holistic development of our youth, to instil valuable social and life skills learned during sports.”
She pointed out that LUCELEC is once again happy to be associated with this tournament and in future “hopes to work closely with the St Lucia Tennis Association for the continued growth of the competition and especially to acquire greater representation from all the educational districts.”
