Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Juliet Bonner (right), from McAuley Primary School in Spanish Town, and André McHugh of Mico Practising All-Age and Junior High (second right) instruct their young wards on how to juggle a tennis ball. The event was one of several warm-up exercises at the Alliance Investment tennis camp for coaches, held at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre on Tuesday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Tennis Jamaica (TJ), the sport's governing body here, in conjunction with Alliance Investments, continued the drive to improve the quality of coaching the sport at the local level when the first of three regional workshops was launched at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre on Tuesday.

The workshop was a part of carrying on the Alliance Investments 11 and under coaches' education programme, which saw 60 physical education teachers take part in a three-day seminar conducted by Canada's Geoff Bower in November, last year.

On this occasion, the coaches were instructed by national technical director Douglas Burke and schools' coordinator Lloyd Johnson, on how to run a tennis camp.

The more than 20 youngsters on hand were put through their paces with various drills and exercises, while coaches looking on were briefed about the importance of each.

Progressive tennis

"What we are trying to teach the coaches is how to get the youngsters to play progressive tennis. A lot of the top nations in Europe have already been doing it. It has recently been implemented in the United States of America and we are trying to follow suit," Burke explained.

Progressive tennis is a system which uses a gradual progression of court sizes, balls and racquets. The game is scaled down to an appropriate level for five to nine-year-olds.

The idea is not new and the equipment has been around for a while and the same applies to the concept of court length. However, all these elements have been brought together in a much more systematic way than ever before.

Burke was at the same time grateful for the continued support of Alliance Investments in the development of the sport.

"We are always happy to have the support of corporate Jamaica and the importance of Alliance to our programme cannot be overstated. They sponsor a number of our events and this is crucial to the spreading of the game," he added.

The camps will continue later this month with a workshop to be held in Montego Bay on the 24th and in Mandeville on the 30th.

The Alliance and Investments 11 and Under schools competition will be held from April to May. Thirteen coaches from the Corporate Area and St. Catherine partici-pated in Tuesday's camp.

They were Esron Green, Vince Brown, James Hill, Anthony DaCosta, Sonia McFarlane, Matthew Rodriquiez, David Johnson, Thomas Plummer, Andre McHugh, Wayne Curtis, Juliette Bonner, Undel Williams and Clevi Johnson.