Excited about Tennis!

Julian starts the students off right.

Julian Baird is the National Tennis Coordinator for the Barbados Tennis Association and leads weekly tennis sessions for children in Barbados as part of an Embassy-funded grant promoting youth development.


Thanks to the U.S. Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, as well as the National Sports Council, these children from the Blackman Gollop, Grantley Prescod and Luther Thorne primary schools  have been afforded the opportunity to play tennis weekly at our National Tennis Centre. Twenty children from each school visit the Tennis Centre  for their session. The children just love to come and squeal with delight as they learn to serve, rally and score from their very first lesson.

Our Barbados Tennis Association is charged with the development of tennis at all levels on the island and being affiliated to The International Tennis Federation, the Association is guided by the Federation's rules and regulations.  A new Play and Stay Campaign aims to retain more starter players in the sport by improving the way the teachers worldwide introduce the game of tennis.

Students proudly wear their new hats!

Ryan, George and I just love teaching these kids using this new technique, whereby we use slower red, orange or green balls depending on the children’s ability, size and age, on a reduced-size court . As you can see from the photos the children are having a ball learning new skills in a fun-filled, active way.  Once the children are more experienced we are hoping to have a fun competition between the three schools to keep the children excited and more challenged.

I think the coaches are as excited as the children when the bus arrives because we get such satisfaction knowing that the children are looking forward to coming and learning tennis.