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Boys had good performances despite short preparation – Coach Daly-Ramdyhan
By Sean Devers
Guyana finished fourth among nine teams in U-12 Boys development ITF COTECC Team tournament which concluded on October 1, in the Dominican Republic and Coach Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan says under the circumstances, her charges performed excellently.
Coach Shelly Daley is flanked by Elwyn Levius (left) and Nathan De Nobrega in the Dominican Republic.
Guyana defeated Barbados, US Virgin Islands and Haiti, while suffering their lone defeat to the host Country’s ‘B’ team to book a place in the semi-finals after ending second in their group.
The two-member team of Nathan DeNobrega and Elwyn Levius then lost both the singles and doubles to Bermuda in the semi-finals.
“I think the players performed excellently, although our preparation was very short. We only had a month to practice but we were still able to play well.
The benefits of playing these tournaments helps to expose our players to a higher level of competition, it also allows us to participate in more events,” said the former National Tennis Champion.
The 48-year-old, who dominated local Tennis in 1990s; winning four consecutive National titles during that period, spoke about the Covid-19 protocols in the Dominican Republic.
“It was regular procedure. The situation is the same as everywhere. We were in a bubble for the entire period of the tournament and wasn’t allowed to go anywhere,” the coach informed, who became an official Coach in 2005.
Daly-Ramdyhan explained that since it’s a development tournament, most of the players are playing their first team competition under COTECC.
“The level varies but most countries send their strongest/best players, the Dominicans and some of the other countries have lots of competition experience,” explained Daly-Ramdyhan whose eldest daughter, 22-year-old Nicola, is on a tennis scholarship in the USA.
Daly-Ramdyhan, who informed that this is the first tournament for the year, said since the government is currently working on completing the racket centre, we will be able to have more competition and training on better tennis courts.
“That has been a concern for many years, more tennis courts are needed in other areas too,” she added.
Coach Shelly says that children will become interested in Tennis through camps, while the JTI programmes in schools in the past helped to promote the sport.
“Since the pandemic and schools being out, it was difficult to have the programme but hopefully we can restart soon,” noted Shelly, who is the National Junior Tennis Coordinator.
Coach Shelly revealed that this was the first time the boys were travelling overseas.
“They both learnt a lot and plan to work harder on their return home to prepare for tournaments in the future.
The tickets were paid for by the tennis association, accommodation, transportation and meals were covered by the ITF. Parents also covered some other expenses,” disclosed Shelly who runs the Sheltez Tennis Club.
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