Three weeks ago, the new courts at the Anguilla Tennis Academy’s facility in Blowing Point were inaugurated and thus the annual summer camp began. With a plethora of highly trained coaches and youth leaders, the quality of this year’s camp has indubitably been augmented and it shows in the progress of the children. Because of the large number of children participating, a number which exceeds 230, the ATA staff hopes to continue to propel tennis as a sport to be reckoned with not only in Anguilla, but in the Caribbean. Among the large number of students, 60 are members of the After School Program and have shown significant improvement not only in the camp, but throughout the year.

The children get ready to receive their certificates

The third and final week has been, for the past 11 years, known as the international week. On Saturday, July 21, almost 15 coaches and players from the United States arrived to join the other international coaches who have been in Anguilla for the two weeks preceding this high performance week. Will Edmonds, hailing from Brighton, England, is one of the lead coaches and has actually been in Anguilla for almost two months assisting the ATA staff in all administrative aspects of the summer camp. Matt Cooper, from Athens, Georgia, was a former team-mate of Mitch Lake and Jason Allen at Gardner-Webb University. It is his second trip to Anguilla as a visiting coach and he will have been one of the lead coaches for the entire three week camp. Also, Wyatt Harper from Nashville, Tennessee, a former international student, has been in Anguilla for almost two weeks as a visiting coach. As a student, Wyatt really enjoyed his experience and wanted to return as a visiting coach. This is his second year as a coach and he has been doing a fantastic job with the children.

The pee wee children eager to play

A number of super star tennis coaches are also on hand from some of the top facilities in the United States. Chris Wade, one of the founding pioneers of the Anguilla Tennis Academy, was the Head Tennis Pro at Cap Juluca for three years and was Mitch Lake’s coach. He is now the Head Pro of the T Bar M Tennis Academy in Dallas, Texas. His academy was recently ranked the number one tennis teaching facility in the USA. Chris has been involved with player development his entire career and serves as one of the leading consultants of the ATA. Lance Lee, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the Head Pro at the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Centre. Lance has an amazing presence on the court and is one of the leading coaches in the entire eastern United States. This is Lance’s second year coming to coach Anguilla’s finest. This year, the ATA invited four of the top juniors from the AAYTE to join in as coaches and players. Kenny Green, Galen Guevara, Shaquille Vaughn, and David Negron have been staying at the Arawak Beach Inn, thanls to their kind sponsorship, and are very excited about being in Anguilla. The partnership with the AAYTE and the ATA is growing and the ATA hopes to send some children to Philadelphia in the future to train at their premier facility. Both Lance and Chris are staying at Cuisinart Resort and Spa and the ATA is very thankful for their sponsorship as well.

2007 Summer Camp photo

Siobhan Belloli, affectionately known as Coach B, has once again come to Anguilla with her son Nate Belloli. In their third year, she brings a great deal of passion and excitement to the children. Her innovative drills, knowledge of tennis, and passion make for an animated experience for the children. Coach B is one of the leading grassroots tennis coaches in the USA and her track record of starting tennis programmes all over the States for children who would not otherwise have the opportunity speaks for itself. Her son Nate is a current college player and like his mother, brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for the game as well. Mary and Michelle Woodruff have been coming to assist with the summer camp for almost seven years now. They were both colleagues of Mitch Lake at the Hill School in Virginia where they were teachers. Chris Davidson, another volunteer coach has made a trip down to Anguilla this year to assist in creating a new web page for the ATA. Chris, Mary, Michelle, Coach B and Nate all stayed at Eden House Villa and spoke very highly of their accommodations.
The ATA staff along with the youth leaders made for a very intense, high performance tennis camp where the student to coach ratio was very low. Members of the ATA staff that coached were Head Pro Rodney Ross, Denny Derrick, Vallan Hodge, Daryl Thompson, Calyde Hughes, Shauna Richardson, Keithroy Proctor, and ATA Executive Director Jason Allen. Members of the tournament playing group became youth leaders and they were Olivia Geyer, Teresa Brooks, Katie Hawkins, Yasminn Ebner, Alex Horsford, Milo Robinson, and Nzingha Banks. Wendell McConnie out of Trinidad also helped out during the camp in a big way. Wendell is one of Trinidad’s top coaches and travels with players on the pro tour. He brought a level of professionalism and coaching that was much needed and appreciated.
On the final day of the camp, July 27, the children were presented with certificates and every child received prizes from their coaches. The coaches put on a show for the children by participating in an accuracy competition, a slam dunk overhead smash competition, and an exhibition doubles match. Each coach represented his or her court and if he or she won, all the prizes went to those particular children. Many parents and spectators were on hand to view almost 200 children on the courts with 30 coaches.
The evening of July 27, the ATA held its annual year end ceremony at the Anguilla Great House. Presentations by Jason Allen, Will Edmonds, Lance Lee, and Mitch Lake were made. Will Edmonds spoke about the camp itself and highlighted the fact that the youth leaders made the camp extremely successful. He made a special presentation to Keithroy Proctor naming him the camp’s most outstanding coach. Alex Horsford was also honoured as the best youth leader. Lance Lee gave his impressions of the camp in which he stated that he was impressed with the quality and standard of tennis in such a small country. He was also thankful for being invited as well as being allowed to bring four children from the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education. Jason Allen thanked the many sponsors, gave a year end summary of the ATA’s activities and gave a long introduction to Mitch Lake in which he lauded his efforts and motivational spirit. Mitch Lake spoke about how excited he was about having the first camp at the new facility and on the beautiful blue courts. He stated that he was equally as excited that the 2007-2008 After School Programme will be held there as well. He also called for more support as the final stage, the building of the stadium court, is still in need of funds for it to be completed.
All in all, the children had a spectacular time and learned a great deal about tennis and life in general. The ATA plans to do a summer camp for many years to come and hopes that the children continue to improve and enjoy a sport that teaches so much about life. Jason Allen said, “this camp, and the ATA in general, is successful because of the many sponsors that have helped us so much this year and in the past and we are all deeply grateful.”

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