And the Work Continues!
Since the hurricane destroyed the tennis courts at the Forest Heights Academy School, the association started looking for another court to use locally. After countless communication between the ATA President, Cameel McDonald, and the local government/administrator, ATA was finally given full access to use the tennis court in Dundas Town, Abaco. The tennis court was approved for general use by the Abaco Tennis Association by the local authorities. However, this court was in need of extensive repair due to the lack of use prior to ATA having access to it. The tennis court had a tremendous amount of mold/mildew build up, no tennis net and no fencing.
The ATA team, with the limited resources available sprang into action and performed manual cleaning of the tennis court in an effort to remove the mold/mildew build up – getting the court to the point where we were able to “See the Green!” This was a major accomplishment once completed. Since then, the association was also given a few tennis training nets which were being used to facilitate practice sessions on Sundays (weather permitting). “We have taken some strides in securing a court for use, clearing debris and cleaning the court with the help of our resilient ATA Members which has encouraged me. Now, we are able to have weekly tennis challenges/lessons with the aid of junior nets and just this week we have received two regular nets for install. While others may see these as small accomplishments this means a lot to me. The challenges with limited to no funds continues but we count our blessings as we propel forward with each step.” – ATA President, Cameel McDonald.
The ATA members have agreed to play on the court on Sundays and call it a “Fenceless Challenge”. This style of playing requires extreme focus and agility in order to perform return hits while keeping the ball in the court lines as there was no fence to stop the tennis balls from going outside of the court.
Though the tennis court was in dire need for both a tennis net, fencing and resurfacing, the ATA members were resilient and pushed to make the best out of the current circumstance – keeping the faith that we will rebuild the tennis community stronger and better then pre-Dorian.
A few short months after the “See the Green” project was completed, the ATA then moved on to phase two – Project Rebuild (securing fencing and resurfacing/painting of the court). After launching this project, ATA was graciously blessed with two full tennis nets & an 10′ all-around fence by anonymous donors. All of the ATA members both locally expressed their sentiments and showed their enthusiasm in regards to wanting to “get back at it!”. The ATA members would like to thank all donors for their sincere and much needed donation towards the association’s Project Rebuild.
As the members of ATA continue progressing with Project Rebuild, we are ecstatic & optimistic about the journey & looking forward to the end result of Project Rebuild. We also hope to start hosting BLTA approved tournaments by early 2021!
#ATAStrong #AbacoStrong #WeWillRebuild
