BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE head of an Interim Committee that is seeking to resuscitate lawn tennis in St. Kitts and Nevis, Watkins Chiverton, has expressed his profound pleasure that juniors are still being trained in the sport despite its state of dormancy.
Chiverton was referencing a number of junior tennis camps that were held in recent times at the newly-resurfaced Warner Park Courts, including one hosted by the Sports Department.
“This summer I was very impressed and at the same time excited to see the revamping of the programmes to include tennis. From my understanding, there were over 65-plus young children who participated in the Summer Camp that they had.”
Tennis has been on the decline in the Federation in recent years, where it had reached the point of being dormant, but Chiverton and his group are in the process of returning it to one of the most popular sports disciplines on the island.
He told SKNVibes that the tennis camps were a good start, because they indicate that there is still a lot of interest for the game.
Against that backdrop, he suggested that with three courts being available it was a challenge to train over 60 children because they were cramped for space, adding that a more structured approach is needed.
He wants to see more courts being available for tennis camps around the country, so that the junior players would have more space and time in order to harness their talent during summer training.
With the availability of more courts and space for training, Chiverton is thinking about developing a tier system that would allow the St. Kitts-Nevis Tennis Association, when it comes on stream, to put a four to five-year plan in place to harness the junior players.
Outside of the summer programme, Chiverton and the Interim Committee members are pushing to develop a tennis academy.
“What this would seek to do, is to have an official academic programme for tennis from three to six, seven to 10, 11 to 14 and 15 to 19-year-olds. We would have professional coaches who would be able to deliver the type of tennis development and tutoring that is necessary to not only get them at a level which they can compete among their peers, but to get to a level that they can compete regionally first and then internationally.”
The Interim Committee meets on a regular basis with the view of chartering a way forward for the sport in St. Kitts and Nevis.
