VADEANAND Resaul of Sheltez Tennis club was the spark for the future of Guyana’s tennis at the pre-qualifying rounds of the ITF/COTECC Under-12 Development Championships held recently at the National Racquet Centre, Trinidad and Tobago.

Two teams of three boys, Devine Jeremiah Kalekyezi, Vadeanand Resaul, Wayne Baker and three girls Sekai Akilah Jones, Monisha Amba Persaud, and Rashida Hardy represented Guyana in our 10th participation at the tournament.
Winning three of his four singles matches, young Guyanese tennis player Resaul was the top performer at the pre-qualifying rounds of the ITF/COTECC Under-12 Development Championships held recently at the National Racquet Centre, Trinidad.
Overall, however, Guyana’s Boys’ team finished in third place out of 10 countries, according to a press release from the Guyana Tennis Association. The team, comprising Resaul, Baker and Kalekyezi had been favoured for one of the two top spots. However, they came up short.
Aside from his singles wins Resaul, also picked up two wins from his four doubles match, where he teamed up with Baker.
Playing as the No. 2 seed for Guyana, Resaul signalled his intention from the start, winning the first match of the tournament, and immediately caught the attention of coaches with his consistent focus on and off court and emotional outbursts at pivotal points in a game.
He prevailed in tough matches even when there was much pressure playing against a Trinidadian for his final singles match.
Guyana’s No. 1 seed Kalekyezi was a strong favourite but managed to secure only two wins of his four singles matches. It was clear that Kalekyezi never really overcame his nervousness as he followed into other player’s tactics such as two mega rallies of over 100 balls each in the final singles match against a Trinidadian top player.
Team coach Shelly Daly was ecstatic about Resaul’s performance, noting that he is one of the most confident players that her club has experienced in years and he usually executes on court one hundred percent as planned.
“He is mentally the toughest and is highly motivated,” she said.
The six players many of whom are products of their school mini–tennis programme were all coached by Daly and she is confident that Guyana has a bright future in tennis with the current crop of young players.
Jones the #1 seed of the Girls’ team lost all five of her singles matches but her partnership with the young Hardy produced two wins. The surprise performance came from Persaud, the No. 2 seed, who showed strong signs of mental strength and patience with long rallies in her matches even enduring a match of 3 hours 45 minutes to come out as the victor against a Barbadian.
She won two of her five singles matches.
GLTA vice-president and Girls team captain Grace McCalman felt that the girls were pressured to quickly adapt to the pristine environment of multiple courts but they practised often and were disciplined enough to fight bravely against the odds visibly improving each day.
“All players learned significant lessons from the tournament which is ITF’s premier development tournament to determine how nations are preparing the next generation players,” the release said.
The revised approach to the tournament defined four sub-regions of which Guyana falls into sub-region 4 excluding Central American territories. This was a welcome move along with the Davis Cup Format for 3 member teams.
“The recently commissioned National Tennis Centre of Trinidad which accommodates 12 tennis courts including four indoor courts and one stadium court hosts the office of the Committee of Sub Region 4,” was explained in the release.
“The president of the Tennis Association of Trinidad & Tobago Mr Hayden Mitchell is also the president of Sub Region 4.
During the visit Ms McCalman in her capacity as GLTA executive member sought to collaborate with Trinidad officials for specific categories of players to participate in limited competitions in Guyana to stimulate interest for development of the sport locally.
It is a year and three months since GLTA has been awaiting the signing of an MOU with the National Sports Commission, to jumpstart the process of developing eight international standard courts, at the National Racquet Centre for an improved training programme and the hosting of international tournaments.
In order to facilitate coaches conducting high performance programmes, the GLTA continues to depend on the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry for provision of adequate facilities – a kind gesture for which the executive is grateful.”