The Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA)  elected a new executive board during the Annual General Meeting  Monday last at the Georgetown Club and Christopher Ram is now the president.

Christopher Ram

Five tennis clubs were represented at the meeting including Georgetown Tennis Club, Roraima Tennis Club, LBI Tennis Club, Non Pariel Tennis Club and Park Players Tennis Club.

In the President’s Report, Wilfred Lee reflected on his term as president of the GLTA since the re-establishment of the association in 2004 when he was asked by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) President K. Juman Yassin to carry the association for one year.

A release from Secretary Grace McCalmont stated that Lee had enjoyed working with the team to bring tennis out of the rut that it had suffered for many years. He thanked the ITF for their unwavering support which was the key to bringing the association thus far.

However the outgoing president lamented the lack of financial assistance from the government to support hard working coaches of the national junior team such as Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan but encouraged the new executives to continue requesting the assistance as junior programmes needed coaches.

Lee said also that he appreciated the success the GLTA had made in re-establishing tennis in primary schools with many children now being exposed to the game, all due to the work of coach Daly-Ramdyhan.

Meanwhile Ram expressed great appreciation for the vote of confidence by the electors. He committed himself to the development of tennis in Guyana and noted that there will be progress although there are many hurdles to cross in an environment where there is limited financial and other supportive resources.

During the meeting an account was given of all activities the GLTA participated in between January 2007 and December 2008 and it was suggested that more fundraising activities should be held to raise money for coaches for the national junior team.

Notably Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan, Phillip Squires and Ezra Sue-Ho were given their ITF Level 1 Coaching Certificates and this made it the first time three coaches were simultaneously given ITF Level 1 certification.
Other executive committee members are:

Life Vice-Presidents – Fritz McLean and  Wilfred Lee
Vice-President (Chairman, Planning & Infrastructure) – Otilia St. Charles
Vice-President (Chairman, Finance & Fund-Raising) – Peter Ramsaroop
Secretary – Grace McCalman
Treasurer – Ana Ramrattan
Assistant Secretary/Treasurer – Duane Lopes
Chairman, Junior Development Committee – Dr. Joseph Haynes
Chairman, Tournament Committee – Phillip Squires
Public Relations Officer – Marion Sukra