GoreKwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Jamaica's top tennis players continue to use the summer to hone their skills as they tour the Caribbean and the United States of America (USA), taking part in various training camps and tournaments, buoyed by $1.5 million worth of funding from real-estate developers Gore Developments Limited.
Significantly, the company is owned by Phillip Gore, president of the sport's local governing body - Tennis Jamaica.
The series of events - the Gore Summer Tennis Tours - have been planned by Tennis Jamaica and places emphasis on developing rounded players as early as possible.
"It's been a comprehensive overall sort of programme, with tours and camps at various levels and we are glad to have Gore Developments on board with this plan," explained national technical director, Douglas Burke.
"One of our main aims is to try and expose our young players to that type of international competition from an early age," he added.
"We won't be waiting until they're 18 or 19 to get this type of exposure, we would love for them to be seasoned competitors by that age," he pointed out.
Served off in May
The programme served off in late May with a visit from American sports psychology expert, William Aranson, who worked with the players on the mental aspect of their game. This is an area which Burke does not believe has been stressed enough in recent years.
The players remained busy as they took part in the BNS Top 16 Invitational tournament, before participating in three weeks of intensive camps at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre. The juniors then got a chance to show what they had learnt at both the Pan Caribbean All Jamaica tournament and then later the ITF Jamaica Junior Championship.
Overseas-basedjuniors Adam Vaz, Christopher Lawson and Brandon Burke have been in on the act as they are currently on the Central American/Caribbean Regional International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit.
They have already taken part in ITF events in Bermuda and The Bahamas over the last few weeks and also the ITF Jamaica Junior Championships. Later this month they will be playing in the ITF St. Lucia tournament, where they will joined by local-based Winifred Weinbeer.
At the senior level, American collegiate-based Dominic Pagon, who won the Top 16 Event in June, was able to take part in the qualifying event for the Campbell's Hall of Fame ATP Tournament in Rhode Island in July, by virtue of a wild-card spot.
Pagon, along with Davis Cup teammate Eldad Campbell, was recently part of the Jamaica delegation to the Pan Am Games.
Tinesta Rowe, Jamaica's top female player, also got in on the action when she, along with Yussuf Migoko and Tyler Chin, participated in the Argus Open Invitational Tournament in Bermuda in early July. Rowe and Migoko won the men's and women's titles, respectively. Migoko and Chin won the men's doubles and Rowe and Migoko captured the mixed doubles title.
Currently, there are 10 of Jamaica's top juniors taking part in a three-week programme at the Casely Summer Camp in the United States, where they will compete in a couple of United States Tennis Association-sanctioned junior tournaments.
