The International Tennis Federation (ITF) through its development programme keeps investing in and promoting tennis across the globe with positive results. As such, Tennis Jamaica was granted the opportunity to have one of the country’s most talented tennis juniors be part of the Under-13 ITF Travel Team for the Caribbean.

John Chin, a 12-year-old Hillel Academy student, who is ranked number one in Boys’ Under-12 in Jamaica during the 2015-2016 period, has represented Jamaica internationally and is among the four-person team that is currently touring the Caribbean region. The team comprises two boys and two girls and is being coached by John Goede, who was specially chosen by the ITF.

Final team selections were done based on competitive performances and physical fitness — which was measured through special tests stipulated by the ITF. The ITF Caribbean Under-13 team competed in three (COTECC) tournaments in Aruba, The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. A training camp will be held during the final week of the tour.

The Caribbean team’s tour, which started June 24 and runs through to July 21, is being financed by the Grand Slam Development Fund (GSDF), with the aim of raising the level of tennis worldwide and increasing the number of countries competing in mainstream international tennis. The development programme includes a wide range of initiatives in less developed countries ranging from the grass roots to Grand Slams.

Chin, coached locally by Ryan Russell of the Russell Tennis Academy, won the Boys’ Under-14 singles title after besting the top seeds in the division at the ITF-endorsed TIHTA Tournament in Aruba June 25-30. He also emerged runner-up with his ITF teammate Aiden Bousquet of St Lucia in the U-14 doubles.

Chin had similar results in The Bahamas recently where he won the ITF-endorsed Junkanoo Bowl’s Boys’ U-14 singles title, and was runner-up in the doubles again with Bousquet. The Jamaican junior then claimed the U-14 singles runner-up spot in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for the ITF-endorsed Copa Merenge tournament.

The regional tennis governing body, Central American & Caribbean Tennis Confederation (COTECC), recently announced that all future team selections would not be solely based on tournament results, but also on physical fitness. As such, all National Junior Development Reports must include a physical fitness component.

Activities include ITF/GSDF touring teams, funding for junior and professional tournaments, training centres, coaches’ education, the supply of tennis equipment and the ITF Junior Tennis Initiative, — a 14 and under player development programme — and Performance Tennis Initiative programmes. Special emphasis has been placed on junior tennis where regional tournament circuits have been developed and teams of young players compete outside their own region.