Tennis stakeholders in tie-breaker

Seemingly strained relations between a section of the local Tennis fraternity and the Brain Nash-led Executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Tennis Association (SVGTA) over “membership”may be decided by a tie breaker.

However, Nash said that in the interest of the sport, he and his current executive members are willing to take on board, some of the suggestions made at a meeting of the SVGTA, held at the Conference Room of the Murray Heights Hotel last Saturday, October 5, 2024.

In attendance were members of the SVGTA’s executive, coaches, past players, a past president, well-wishers of the sport, as well as parents.

The meeting originally had as its lone agenda item, “The Executive Term”; however, most of the time was spent on the issue of who constitutes the members of the SVGTA, and the processes involved in persons gaining membership of the Association. As it stands, anyone seeking to become a member of the SVGTA, must put in writing his/her interest. Thereafter, the executive of the SVGTA has six months to process the application, and can either grant or deny membership.

At the end of last Saturday’s meeting, most of the persons present, listed their names, indicating willingness to gain membership to the SVGTA, with Nash stating that their application will be looked into.

One of the past players who was present at Saturday’s meeting, Sebatian Cyrus, believes that even after the lengthy back and forth, things are still inconclusive.

“It feels it was inconclusive as to what is going to happen going forward…the procedure to become a member seems to be very lengthy,” Cyrus said.

“ …we understood that it all comes down to what they feel on a personal level, as there is no objective parameter to decide who becomes a member and who revokes membership, and that leaves me to believe that there is some sort of agenda.”

Cyrus noted that he only learned of the membership procedure, “via the comments section of a Facebook post on a article SEARCHLIGHT in which Taj Ballantyne called out the Association.

Furthermore, Cyrus is convinced that little was achieved at Saturday’s meeting.

“I left with the consensus that it is very difficult for us to participate due to the lack of transparency from the governing body, as well as the poor visibility of Tennis throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines,” he charged.

“ At the end of the meeting, there was no conclusion… they (the executive) adjourned the meeting on their own terms instead of answering many of the questions that were asked and[as] someone who loves Tennis, I feel like there is much more to do, and many more questions to be answered,” Cyrus concluded.

The Association’s President however, felt that the meeting was “informative”.

Expounding on his assessment, Nash said, “We came to discuss the way forward… We had a contingent of coaches who have expressed their interest in once again being part of the Association’s activities going forward…it is something that we are going to consider and discuss”.

Nash said in recent times many of the coaches had distanced themselves from activities of the SVGTA, and many of them had not been encouraging their players to participate.

“The Association over the years… found it difficult to deal with many of these persons,” Nash indicated.

“We will have another meeting and we would take a number of suggestions on board.” He said, however, he was not ruling out, that the next meeting will be an elective one.