Kyle Gilgeous of West Field Prep School and Ema Vasconcellos of Marian Academy emerged as the Boy and Girl MINISLAM Champs for the GLTA Christmas Interschool RED BALL competition which was held at the National Gymnasium. Twenty-six players all under 10 years old with familiar faces and new ones all enthused to make their mark in beginner tennis and socialize with new friends and old. Players contested for the eight schools Marian Academy, New Guyana School, St. Margaret’s Primary, St. Pius Primary, Westfield Prep, Winfer Gardens, St. Agnes and Buxton Youth Developers.
The tournament was conducted by National Junior Coordinator Shelly Daly. Round Robin format was used because it is premised on frequency of play as participants get to face multiple opponents to increase the number of matches played to help build confidence and skills. Seventeen boys competed in the first of four rounds. In the final round, the four players battling for the top two positions were Kyle Gilgeous of Westfield Prep, Allayne Embrack of St. Agnes, Kemo Prince and Justin Leitch both of the Buxton Youth Developers. Gilgeous and Prince tied with two match wins apiece. However, Gilgeous secured the win because of a better game win/loss percentage.
L-R: Ema Vasconcellos of Marian Academy, Kyle Gilgeous of Westfield Prep, Kemo Prince of Buxton Youth Developers and Byanka Young of New Guyana School.
There were nine girls competing for the title. The girls had three rounds of matches. Ema Vasconcellos and Sienna Sookram both of Marian Academy, Byanka Young of New Guyana School and Kayesha Harding of St. Margaret’s made it to the final round. The young ladies showed potential and drive. Vasconcellos easily took first place with three wins, Young had two wins, Harding had one win and Sookram did not secure a game.
The trophy for Best School was copped by Buxton Youth Developers having satisfied the criteria for enthusiasm, determination and consistency in developing tennis as a sport at their school as well as their participation and performance in the inter school competition.
After 11 years of existence in primary schools the Guyana Tennis Association chose to rename its mini-tennis programme to MINISLAM to pique interest and to cater for new thrusts for tennis as a recreational sport in community development. In this regard, the association continues to appeal to authorities to make facilities available nationwide for the development of the sport both as a recreational activity and for high performance programs. The next MINISLAM U10 Schools REDBALL competition for Georgetown will be held on March 16, 2018 at the National Gymnasium.