The returning president of the Barbados Road Tennis Association (BRTA) has declared ambitious plans for his new term, including getting the game into local schools, and spreading it to new markets. Frederick Blunt was re-elected BRTA president for a second term when the organisation held its annual general meeting at the weekend.
Blunt was initially elected to head the organisation in 2022, having previously served as vice-president. Juanita Yearwood Clarke has been elected vice president; Rachel Clarke treasurer; Alvin Brancker secretary; Kevin Gobin public relations officer; Allan Parris and Vonrad Walters floor members.
Reflecting on his first term in office, Blunt spoke to the growth of the game. “The most significant thing of my first term was getting a lot of junior tournaments,” Blunt shared. “So we were getting a lot of young persons involved. And also we attracted a number of big sponsors that weren’t involved in road tennis over the years Harris Paints, also the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust, some of the biggest sponsors we were ever able to attract.”
Looking forward, Blunt echoed the words of Minister for Youth, Sports, and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith, who spoke at the launch of the Barbados Road Tennis Open in July. Griffith addressed the growth potential of the sport beyond Barbados’ shores. Blunt said that evangelising the sport globally is a work in progress.
“Well, we are in a transition now. A lot of other countries are getting involved. For example, it is being played in Canada, being introduced in schools in Canada,” he explained. “So they have a large student population in Canada, in York, in Toronto playing the sport.
“The government has also sent persons to different parts of Africa to share the sport. Also, our Instagram page and our Facebook page have gotten the message out to a lot of South American countries, and other parts of Europe. We are getting a lot of contact from a number of those places.”
Inasmuch as positive steps are being taken, Blunt is adamant that more can and must be done, in order to get the game to the highest level possible. But he also acknowledged that the federation has to look inward, to further develop at the junior level.
“Well, the ultimate [goal] is to have road tennis being played at a major event, whether it is the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, but one of the major events,” he asserted. “So in order to achieve that before actually being played in a number of countries outside of Barbados, as we look at international sports, the only sport that really grew that remained at home was American football. All the other sports starting in particular countries had to be exported and played all over the world for it to really grow. So that is the phase that we are going through, working closely with the government and the National Sports Council to push the sport globally.
“I am happy, but I’m not satisfied, let’s put it that way,” he said of where the game is domestically. “Because we still have to do a lot more in the schools. We have to get road tennis, which is our indigenous sport, actually on the agenda in the schools. We don’t want road tennis to be just another sport in the schools, where we have to play second fiddle to cricket, basketball, netball, and athletics.
“Yes, all of those are very important, but I think you should push your own. Because if you want persons outside to really take what you’re doing serious with road tennis, we have to take it seriously here first.”
Blunt said that in his current term, he will be emphasising the need to get road tennis into primary and secondary schools, and into more communities. His executive intends to use Springer Secondary as a hub for developing female players, which will be one of the areas on which they will focus, along with building a cadre of coaches, all the better to further grow the game both locally and internationally. (TF)
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