Taj Ballantyne set to fulfil his dream

Young tennis player Taj Ballantyne will soon be fulfilling his main dream in the sport, when he embarks on a tennis scholarship.

The 18-year-old Ballantyne is heading for the Benedict College in South Carolina, where he will be majoring in Economics.

In his quest to secure a scholarship, Ballantyne informed, “I did videos and sent them off and with my academics and an ITF (International Tennis Federation) ranking of 1,296 in the Under-18 …all helped me.”

Ballantyne has played in several ITF junior tournaments in Barbados, St Lucia, Tobago and here in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

A second year student of the SVG Community College, Ballantyne, although having no qualms at leaving at this time, acknowledged that the transition will be a bit difficult, as he would have to leave his many friendships that he has forged over the years.

Ballantyne crowned off his departure from the SVG Community College by inking his name as the first winner of the college’s singles competition, a feat he achieved two weeks ago.

Ballantyne believes that his journey to the scholarships has been well crafted, although he had hoped it would come earlier.

He thanked his coaches who have been instrumental in his development, namely Samantha Goodluck, Kebajah King, Onike Spann, Anthony Boyea and Peter Nanton.

Meanwhile, Goodluck, who was a middle person in ensuring that Ballantyne attained the scholarship, gave words of advice to potential tennis scholarships recipients.

“I would like to emphasis that the student-athletes make their (SAT) Scholastic Aptitude Test a subject because nothing can happen for them without that exam in the USA because that’s where the scholarships are,” Goodluck noted.

Making reference to previous scholarship recipients, Goodluck underscored the need for Vincentians tennis players to try and get to the next level.

“Take for example, Andre Prince, who received a tennis scholarship, he has a Master’s Degree in Engineering after going out to Pan Am Games in 1999 in Winnipeg, Canada and although he lost, his attitude on court was great and was spotted by a coach who enrolled him in Morgan University in the USA,” Goodluck stated.

Goodluck listed other players in recent times who have attained tennis scholarships, among them Alain Bailey, Shane Latchman and Dujoh Ollivierre and encouraged others here to seek out similar opportunities, even though they do not possess an ITF ranking.(RT)