Roger Crawford Writes: Yet again GHANA has successfully hosted 2 weeks of ITF World Tour Juniors in Accra
Though preparations for the first week lacked the usual spirited vibe among both local players and coaches due to an international handball event held on the tennis courts, the week one boys final was an all Ghanaian affair.
This is always very exciting as it shows that given the opportunity, Ghanaian boys and girls will excel against their counterparts from other countries.
Week 2 had all the hallmarks of what we witnessed in the 80s and 90s where there was always an underdog who came in and stole the show. Kwesi Frimpong, a young lad from Tema, totally unheard of in ITF World Tour Juniors circles stole the show and made it to the finals. Though he lost in the finals, he showed poise and inspired a lot of young players who now believe that they can be the next Kwesi Frimpong.
Our young women continue to show signs of a future that we would all be proud of.
Led by Miss Sisu Tomegah, they all showed so much improvement and confidence on court. A testament to all the hard work that our coaches have been putting into their trade. We can confidently say that a year from now, we would have at least 10 girls playing in this event with the top tier making significant progress.
We are grateful to the coaches and we encourage them to keep inspiring the players as we can all see light at the end of the tunnel. Ghana Tennis is on the rise AGAIN!!!!
As organizers, we will not rest on our oars until we create opportunities for Ghanaian players to compete at the highest levels of the sport. Our optimism is based on where we started from and the fact that, very soon we would have a couple of players who could play in Junior Grand Slams by MERIT!
Ours is to create opportunities for all our players regardless of gender or geographical location within the country.
To this end, we flew in the winner of the juniors event at last December’s Northern Tripartite Tennis Tournament, a charismatic young man from Bolga and his coach to participate in the event. Not only did he enjoy the competition process but he made lifelong friends who together with him are the future of Ghana Tennis. This approach we believe is fair to all young Ghanaians. If their country is hosting international events, they deserve to play in it.
The experience gained by this young man is one that we know would inspire and encourage a legion of young players from the Northern Regions.
In the same vein, we bused in 14 young men and women from our pilot program in Ankaful in the Central Region to witness at first hand tennis at the international level. We made sure they took in as much of the experience including a crash course in racket restringing as well as career opportunities in tennis other than playing.
If Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey’s words are anything to hang our hats on, we know that the 3 girls in the group will end up “educating a Nation” of tennis enthusiasts and protégés.
In the area of officiating, we gave the opportunity to a leading tennis professional from Wa in the upper West Region. We are excited because we know that he will share the knowledge he acquired with young people in his Region.
We will continue to create opportunities for everyone involved in tennis development as the tide of progress lifts all boats.
Our courts desperately needs resurfacing. We are doing our best to import good quality products to resurface all 4 courts. We just installed a partial fence and will complete all round fencing soon.
Our sincere gratitude goes to the Executive Board of the Ghana Tennis Federation for their continued support and for being partners in development.
Though we are going through growing pains with the leadership of the Tennis Umpires Association of Ghana (TUAG), we are grateful that their members were available to ensure the smooth running of the events. For the first time, We had 3 young women as officiating officials!!!! Thanks to our resident ITF Referee.
It is our hope that before September, the leadership of the GTF would be able to broker a fair deal between the organizers of this important event and TUAG.
Accra City Hotel and Central Hotels continue to provide top tier hospitality to all our guests and we are continually grateful.
Second Serve Tennis Shop and Égalité Sports Bar and Restaurant continue to make Ghana shine as a series tennis destination. We are grateful for their services.
Special thanks to all our volunteers who were on hand to help in whatever capacity we needed them. We are thankful to all of them for their support.
We are all excited about our upcoming events. Ghana will be the talk and envy of the ITF World Tour Juniors when we host 2 weeks of J30 followed by 2 weeks of J60 followed by 2 weeks of J100.
It is safe to say we would have the biggest party on Tour.
Our Hope is that our players continue to compete and improve before September .
We are still looking for young men and women who are interested in being trained as officials, administrators and Tournament Directors.
Our doors are always open for suggestions, recommendations and constructive feedback aimed at making these Events better.
#advantageGhana
Story By: ROGER CRAWFORD
