Mc Calman laments poor turnout at Inter schools mini-tennis tourney

By Tamica Garnett
Chairperson of the Junior Development Committee of the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA), Grace McCalman, has lamented the poor turnout at the recent mini-tennis Inter Schools tournament.

Grace McCalman

Mc Calman, however, said she was very pleased with the quality performance by the children who participated in last Sunday’s competition at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.

She acknowledged that not everything was looking up as the number of children who participated was below what the association had expected.

“In terms of development looking at the the children who competed this year it was clear that the standard of their play was much higher but in terms of quantity was not exactly what we had been hoping for,” McCalman said.

This year the annual event was attended by only seven of the 13 schools that were scheduled to attend.

The competition featured some 18 students from seven schools,  Marian Academy, St. Ambrose, St. Agnes, Enterprise, Winfer Gardens, St. Margaret’s, and St. Angela’s Primary School and they participated in the under-8 and under-10 categories.

The annual competition is a component of a programme that has been implemented by the GLTA to attract children to the sport of tennis through the primary school system.

McCalman said that the drop in participation this year resulted from the unavailability of teachers to prepare the students for the competition but the association was still very grateful to the schools for their participation and commitment.

Additionally, according to McCalman, the drop in participation could also be attributed to the reduced number of visits by the GLTA National Junior Tennis Coordinator, Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan, to the schools.

As the coordinator, Ramdyhan would regularly visit the schools to monitor and encourage the progress of the programme.

However, McCalman explained, acting  on the advice of the international ruling body, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) with whom the GLTA collaborates,  the GLTA had reduced the regularity of these visits.

“We were advised by the ITF to begin reducing the number of visits we make to the schools. They said that the schools need to begin to operate naturally on their own.

“So we experimented to see if the schools were ready to take that step but apparently the programme has not been integrated enough for the schools to operate independently, we still need to be there to push things forward.”

McCalman noted that it is at the younger ages that individuals can most likely be expected to develop a knack for the sport and so it is the primary schools that are most targeted. So in collaboration with the ITF, theoretical planning for the progamme began in 2005 and it was later implemented in 2006.

“The purpose of this programme in primary schools is to get the teachers to teach tennis as part of their programme in the PE (Physical Education) class. This is  to present an opportunity for young children of all backgrounds to experience the game of tennis in its grassroots form,” McCalman said.

The ultimate aim of the programme is to have the sport incorporated fully into the PE syllabus of the school. But this, McCalman said, has been a profound challenge more so since in many schools Physical Education is not even a part of the curriculum.

“We understand that the primary teachers are having difficulty executing PE at their schools because there is the lack of a PE programme in a lot of schools but we understand that the Ministry of Education is working on putting the necessary things in place to install the sport in the schools,” McCalman stated.

Additionally with the completion of the Racquet Sports Center currently under construction in Thomas Lands, the GLTA hopes that it would further assist the implementation of the sport.

Moreover, the turnover of teachers has also had its effect on the venture. The programme which initially began with the participation of 17 of the 36 schools has now dropped to only eleven schools.

“We started out with a survey of the 36 primary schools in Georgetown and 17 of the schools initially adapted the programme but now in 2010 we have about 11 schools.  Primarily the participation in the programme has dropped because when the teachers leave the momentum and interest would usually go with them,” McCalman explained.

Nevertheless, expansion has still been encouraging  as the programme has been  reaching out to the Berbice areas.

Equipment was recently donated to six schools in New Amsterdam and six schools in the Corriverton area  to promote  tennis development there.

Subsequently the competition would be held annually to give the GLTA the opportunity to identify those students who possess the talent for the sport, so that they can be singled out and further groomed.

Efforts have also been made to implement the sport in the secondary schools as well but this, McCalman noted, would be more of an encouragement for the teens to take up the sport but it is the younger age groups that the GLTA is focusing on.