The Guyana Tennis Association (GTA) is set to participate in an International Tennis Federation (ITF) two-day virtual officiating course, which is expected to boost the calibre of officiating in the country.
“This course will definitely improve the level of officiating,” national coach, Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan told this publication; she said the association, in the past, has been hamstrung by a lack of qualified officials to call games.
“… as recent as the last tournament (IFT Safe tennis tournament) that ended, we didn’t have enough officials to officiate in the finals and semifinals which were two quality matches… and in matches like those it is critical to have persons to officiate so that persons would not feel disadvantaged,” Daly-Ramdyhan said.
Daly also pointed out that Guyana, for some time, has been without an ITF certified officiating officer following the inactiveness of Dr. Steve Surujbally, who had other commitments, which makes the upcoming course even more important to GTA’s aspirations of holistically improving the quality of the sport here.
“Officiating is not where we want it to be because we currently don’t have a certified officiating officer. We once had a certifying officer many years ago in Dr. Steve Surujbally who was a white badge referee but because he wasn’t active in terms of officiating in ITF regional events, he would have lost that badge.
“Nevertheless, he would have done a workshop with our local participants in three or four years ago and we did refreshers from time to time and others went online and would have done stuff on their own.”
The online course will run from December 12-13 where 10 Guyanese are expected to participate. The course also comes at a time where tennis is likely to receive more government support as promised by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr.
Meanwhile, following the conclusion of the course, participating officials will get the opportunity to display their newfound knowledge during the 2021 Trophy Stall doubles tournament which is set to take center stage in December.
