|
Stay home and clean for Christmas, or play in a tennis tournament?
We'll take the tennis.
That was the answer several youngsters chose as the 23rd annual RBTT Youth Tennis Tournament took place at the Trinidad Country Club in Maraval from Dec. 13 to 16.
"Well, it was either I stay home and do nothing, or come here, so ...," said Juanaldo Greig, a 12-year-old competitor from Tobago.
New York-born Greig is the younger brother of Jalon Greig, who got involved in the game because of his brother's involvement.
"I start tennis when I was like 4. I started it 'cause my brother started it," Grieg said.
Although he looks up to Swiss superstar Roger Federer, Greig has his eyes set for now on Ryan Thomas, who eliminated him in the semifinals of the tournament in the boys under-12 bracket.
"He's like half my size, but he have some real good shots, with plenty topspin," said Greig, a student of Bishop's High School, Tobago.
He was part of a relaxed group from Tobago that sat in the shade of a tree as they tried to urge on fellow Tobagonian Shania Millington, as she took part in the under 16/under 18 combined category final.
Millington was facing top seed Trevine Sellier.
Sellier quickly won two games, and the frustration was telling on Millington's face. But with her fellow Tobagonians urging her on, she recovered to win the first set 6-2.
Unfortunately for the Tobagonians, Sellier rallied to win the final.
That didn't dampen the spirit of Dajohnique Delancy, who was eager to tell us why she got involved in tennis.
Tennis isn't exactly the most popular sport in Trinidad and Tobago; it ranks way behind cricket, football and basketball, while for girls, netball, volleyball and hockey usually have more appeal.
"Just for fun, I just try it out and I realise I was good at it," said Delancy, of Scarborugh Secondary, who started playing tennis in primary school.
While the Tobagonians got into tennis more out of recreation, we ran into two competitors who are already getting into the groove of international tennis.
Lee-Ann Lingo and Scott Lanser are both home-schooled because of the demands of their involvement in the international circuit.
Lingo has been playing professional tennis for 10 years. The 18-year-old holds an international youth tennis ranking and regularly takes part in tournaments across the region. She only missed out on taking part in the Fed Cup on the Trinidad and Tobago team because of an injury she suffered earlier this year.
"My parents both played, so I was born into it," said Lingo of the game.
Lanser was influenced by his father and older brother. At 14, he has competed in about 30 tournaments all over the region. In this tournament, he secured his first win at the under-16 level in his first attempt. He believes the local game is going places.
Lanser is an admirer of Nadal as well, but thinks he has some time to catch up to the Spanish star.
"In about 10 years (I'll be playing him). I'm still young," said Lanser.
Lingo is an avid fan of Serbian player Ana Ivanovic, as well as Andy Roddick and James Blake.
Interestingly, Lingo was the only girl who seemed to admire any other female tennis player.
When we approached girls under-14 finalists Olivia Johnston and Rebecca Roberts, both Maple Leaf students rolled Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer off their tongues with ease.
Johnston, 14, beat 13-year-old Roberts in straight sets in the finals, but the schoolmates left the rivalry on the court and were quite happy joking with each other after the match.
When asked if they had any favourite female tennis players, both of them shook their heads, with Roberts, the daughter of the Sport Minister, replying, "Not really, I find them annoying."
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
