The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) launches its first Level 1 Officiating Certification Course. The course will be conducted at the National Tennis Centre and includes participants from Abaco, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera and New Providence. The course boasts 32 enthusiastic persons inclusive of 12 females and 13 persons from various islands.
The ITF Officiating manager for this course is Mr Mickey Williams. Mr Williams spoke about the opportunities presented “This Level 1 course, designed by the ITF, is intended for persons with an interest in officiating and others who may have done some umpiring on a limited basis before and want to expand their knowledge. The two-day program will provide a detailed introduction to the Rules of Tennis, the Code of Conduct and the procedures for overseeing competitive tennis matches. It will also introduce the participants to Line Umpiring techniques and Chair Umpiring procedures. At the end of the course, the successful students will be considered “National Officials” and will be expected to upgrade their skills at local tournaments at all levels – junior, open & senior. They may also be called upon to provide their assistance at any international events that may be hosted here in the Bahamas.
As well as students from here in New Providence, we will have participants from Abaco, Eleuthera & Grand Bahama who will participate remotely via Zoom, which will be a first for this type of program.”
The President of The BLTA, Mr Perry Newton expressed his pleasure in the BLTA hosting this course, ” We are one of the first countries to undertake this officiating certification course post-pandemic. We have taken the opportunity to lead the charge towards training officials which is one of the pillars of our “Tennis Sustainability” platform. During this pandemic, certain activities have been prohibited but we continued to plan and to strengthen the pillars in anticipation of emerging from these times stronger. We want to train and offer these opportunities equally across all the islands so we can grow uniformly. We were able to get full representation from the island associations in Abaco, Eleuthera and Grand Bahama. Training our officials is necessary to the development of the sport and increases and strengthens our pool of eligible officials, building an environment of sustainability in the sport of Tennis in the entire Bahamas for many years to come.”
The course is being offered in 2 intakes (Nov 14th/15th and Nov 28th/29th) with all safety protocols in place with some participants attending via zoom. Day 1 training kicks off on Saturday, November 14th at 9:00 am at the NTC.
Original Post Date: 11/12/2020
