Tennis Jamaica, in association with Hi-Lyte Sports Drink, will be staging the first-ever Best of the Best Division One and Two All-Island High Schools Tennis Championships to be held this weekend at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre commencing each day at 9:00 am.

According to tournament director David Sanguinetti, it is one of the biggest tournaments ever staged for high schools at this level, other than the Access Services Limited/Proven Wealth Limited All-Island High Schools Championships which was played in December of last year.

“The championship will be played in two divisions for boys and girls and they will play each other on a round-robin format, with each tie consisting of three singles and two doubles. Each team should consist of a minimum of four players, or a maximum of seven players,” Sanguinetti said.

He said in order for schools to be placed in Division One, they would have to reach the semi-finals of the Access Financial Services/Proven Wealth Championships.

Meanwhile, Sanguinetti said SOS Village from Montego Bay have received a special wild card into the Division Two section by the organising committee. “They are within the age limit of the schools and they have some good players. They also might eventually be the school to watch.”

Furthermore, he said, SOS Village players have played in a number of tournaments organised by Llockett McGregor, but not in the schools competitions, so they have a chance now to prove themselves as a team.

Richard Russell, who is the tournament chairman, said: “It is a very good championships for the players to showcase their techniques, skills and potential in the sport. It is also a different tournament where you cannot move around your number one players as in other high school tournaments.

“This is also a new addition to high school tennis and it is the best teams from the Access/Proven tournament [which] will match up against each other. The traditional schools in the Division One section should be the tester as it will have the true rivalry against each other,” Russell said.

Russell said Division Two is open up to other traditional schools which want to participate and did not reach the semi-finals of the Access/Proven tournament.

The participating schools in Division One for boys are Wolmer’s, winners of the Access Financial Services/Proven Wealth team title, Hillel Academy, Ocho Rios High and Campion College.

Only three schools will be contesting the Division One section for girls, Campion College, winners of the Access Financial Services/Proven Wealth Championships, Montego Bay High, and Immaculate Conception High.

Schools participating in the Division Two for boys are Ardenne High, American International School of Kingston (AISK), St George’s College, Munro College, Jamaica College, and SOS Village.

In the girls’ Division Two section, Hillel Academy, Ocho Rios High, Holy Childhood, Mount Alvernia, American International School of Kingston (AISK), and newcomers SOS Village, are the contenders.

For any player to play in the championships in the Under-19, they should not turn 19 years old before the starting date of the event.

All matches will be the first of six games, and no add scoring at 6-6 all, as a seven-point tiebreaker will be used to decide the winner of the match.

One of the rules governing this championships is that coaches must submit their team’s ranking before play begins, and rankings are subject to approval by the tournament committee.

The opening ceremony for the championships was scheduled for yesterday at 1:00 pm.