Last week, Brian Bosché, a 16 year old junior tennis player arrived in Anguilla with his family to enjoy the sun, the sand, and the sea. Yet, part of their vacation was to take part in the Anguilla Tennis Academy’s after school program. Brian, an impressive young man as well as an extremely capable tennis player wanted to get involved with the efforts of the ATA and he was able to do so in more ways than one. First, due to his own non-profit organization called Get Racquets, he donated 18 pristine rackets to the ATA. Get Racquets is an organization that works to provide donated tennis racquets to junior tennis players who are in need of them. They collect tennis racquets that all experienced tennis players have and redistribute them around the world to juniors who would love to put them to good use. Tennis has become an increasingly costly sport, with all the travelling, equipment costs, lessons, etc. As a result, people may turn away when they can’t afford many of these luxuries.

Brian Bosche presents the rackets to Jason Allen

Not only did Brian donate 18 rackets, he also served as a coach for five days. Through this, he was able to interact with many Anguillian children and the ATA’s coaches. Brian said, “I love Anguilla so far, it is very cool, much different than what I am used to. The children are all very enthusiastic, they are laid back but they are still happy to be out there and they don’t take it for granted. The ATA coaches are great and one of the positive aspects is that there are many coaches which is great for the coach to students ratio.” Brian and his family were as equally impressed with the ATA’s new facility in Blowing Point. “It is one of the nicest I have seen anywhere,” Brian commented.

Brian came to Anguilla with his father Tom Bosché, Mother Kelly, and sisters Shannon (14) and Michelle (8). Tom Bosché said, “I found out about Anguilla from books and websites and we decided to come here because there were neither cruise ships nor gambling. So far it has been fantastic and we have enjoyed our stay at Rendezvous Bay Hotel and Villas. We have practically had the beach to ourselves.” It is an impressive accolade to be able to start one’s own non profit organization at such a young age, therefore Brian was asked about how he got things started to which he replied, “I bought six new rackets and therefore had 12 old rackets laying around and did not know what to do with them. We then thought that it would be a good idea to give them to people in need. The ATA was actually the first organization to receive rackets and we are still actively looking for other organizations in need.” Brian hopes to get rid of all the rackets and distribute them to people in need. Part of the reason the Get Racquets concept started was that tennis is not very prevalent in Montana and he saw this as a way to promote the sport as sometimes tennis can be seen as an expensive sport reserved for only the wealthy.

Brian hopes to continue his efforts with the distribution of rackets to the needy as well as pursue his own dreams. He plans to attend an Ivy League University in the USA and play tennis. Although he is uncertain about the field of study he wants to enter, he plans to continue coaching tennis in the future as it is rewarding to him.

Besides giving to the ATA in terms of rackets and volunteer coaching, the Bosché family also made a financial contribution to the children’s program and bought a brick at the new facility. The ATA’s Executive Director Jason Allen said, “on behalf of the ATA board of directors I want to say thank you for your support and your dedication to teaching the children here and you have been a big help and a boost, moral wise, for the children and the coaches”

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