SXM Tennis Federation In Anguilla To Train And Compete With ATA

This past weekend, 16 children from the St. Maarten Tennis Federation made a trip to Anguilla to connect with the Anguilla Tennis Academy. The children arrived on Friday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m. and were escorted to the Anguilla Great House where they remained for the entire weekend.

Joining the children were six adult chaperones including delegates from the SXM Tennis Federation as well as Coach Les Brown.
Rudy Engel, president of the federation, contacted the ATA’s director Jason Allen in late September. Mr. Engel expressed interest in fostering a relationship between the two organizations for the benefit of the children. It was agreed that one of the problems confronting all sports development was the lack of frequent and different competition. In the sport of tennis, it is paramount to play as many different players as possible. Intense and frequent competition augments one’s mental toughness.
The SXM Federation is also excited about the new Anguilla Tennis Academy facility being built in Blowing Point. All of the SXM delegates agreed that the facility will have no rival in the Caribbean and, upon completion, they look forward to competing more often. The reason for the trip was twofold: The SXM delegates wanted the children to participate in the ATA’s Saturday morning tennis clinic where they could receive top notch instruction from Anguilla’s local tennis pros and, during the afternoon, they wanted to play matches against the ATA’s children. The Saturday morning instructional session was held at the beautiful courts of Cuisinart Resort and Spa. Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, the matches were held at Malliouhana Hotel and Spa.
All in all, it was an extremely successful weekend based on the fact that the children had a wonderful time. All involved benefited from the matchplay and enjoyed meeting new people and fostering new relationships.
The ATA and SXM crew would like to extend their gratitude to the Anguilla Great House for hosting the children and providing great food and service. Both organizations look forward to making such events happen more often. Consequently, the ATA will be sending many students to St. Maarten for the Diamond Creations Tennis Tournament at the end of the month.