Eleuthera Tennis Jr. Tournament

The Eleuthera Tennis Association (ETA) is scheduled to host a Junior Tennis Tournament during the October 12 holiday weekend.

The tournament will be geared towards boys and girls in the 10, 12 and 14 as well as under age groups at the Ricardo and Tracy Knowles Tennis Courts in Palmetto Point.

The tournament's director will be Artie Johnson, a native of  James Cistern. Johnson, an advocate of junior tennis development, also conducts a summer camp which is into its ninth year. Johnson says that more local junior tournaments need to be held to tap into the local talent as it is a part of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association's( BLTA) new mandate. He noted that the interest in tennis is high amongst children living in Eleuthera.
Each July at least 100 children register for his two week camp with the exception of last year as a tournament was simultaneously being held in New Providence. However Johnson explained that the lack of public tennis courts presents challenges.

Johnson's background in tennis qualifies him to propel the sport to the next level in Eleuthera. Two years ago, he and fellow Eleutheran Kevin Carey participated in a nine-day level one coaching certification  course. The course was sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF - worlds governing body for tennis) and staged by the BLTA at the National Tennis Center in New Providence.

In all 20 Bahamian coaches took part in the course conducted by ITF representative, Anthony Jeremiah. Some of the sessions ran for several hours each day with focus on diagnostic abilities of a player, technical and tactical knowledge of the game, demos on conducting practices, fitness, psychology, safety and tennis rules.