Vadeanand Resaul of Sheltez Tennis club was the spark for the future of Guyana’s tennis at the pre-qualifying rounds of the ITF/COTECC Under 12 Development Championships held recently at the National Racquet Centre, Trinidad. Two teams of three boys: Devine Jeremiah Kalekyezi, Vadeanand Resaul, Wayne Baker and three girls: Sekai Akilah Jones, Monisha Amba Persaud, Rashida Hardy represented Guyana in our 10th participation at the tournament.
Playing as the #2 seed for Guyana, Resaul emerged as the top performer with three of four singles wins and two of four doubles wins with Baker. As if to signal his intention, he won the first match of the tournament and immediately caught the attention of coaches with his consistent focus on and off court and emotional outbursts at pivotal points in a game. He prevailed in tough matches even when there was much pressure playing against a Trinidadian for his final singles match. The #1 seed Ugandan Devine Jeremiah Kalekyezi was a strong favourite but managed to secure only two of four singles wins. It was clear that Kalekyezi never really overcame his nervousness as he followed suit into other player’s tactics such as two mega rallies of over 100 balls each in the final singles match against a Trinidadian top player. At the end of the third day, Guyana’s boys team was favoured for one of the two top spots and this boosted their confidence.
Vadeanand Resaul, Monisha Amba Persaud, the teams with Captains Shelly Daly and Grace McCalman.
But they fell short to place third of 10 countries barely missing that opportunity to move onwards to play in the finals in Guatemala during August. Their captain and coach Shelly Daly was the head coach in the team preparation and she was ecstatic since Resaul, she says is the most confident player that her club has experienced in years and he usually executes on court one hundred percent as planned. “He is mentally the toughest and is highly motivated” she said.
The six players many of whom are products of their school mini–tennis programme were all coached by Daly and she is confident that Guyana has a bright future in tennis with the current crop of young players. Sekai Akilah Jones the #1 seed of the girls’ team lost all five of her singles matches but her partnership with the young Rashida Hardy produced two wins. The surprise performance came from #2 seed Monisha Amba Persaud who showed strong signs of mental strength and patience with long rallies in her matches even enduring a match of three hours and 45 minutes to come out as the victor against a Barbadian. She won two of her five singles matches. The GLTA Vice President and girls team captain Grace McCalman felt that the girls were pressured to quickly adapt to the pristine environment of multiple courts but they practiced often and were disciplined enough to fight bravely against the odds visibly improving each day. All players learned significant lessons from the tournament which is ITF’s premier development tournament to determine how nations are preparing the next generation players.