Six of our best set for Dominican test

Bermuda will send away six of their brightest young tennis players to the Dominican Republic to compete in the JITIC 2013 Tennis Tournament starting August 3.

Bermuda is represented in the Under-16 and Under-14 Boys’ Divisions. 

Competing in the Under-16s’ are Courtland Boyle Jnr., William Boyle and Nicholas Lines. Competing in the under 14s are Luke Attride-Stirling, Dylon Powell and Ben Lines. The coaches are Jerome Bradshaw and Romar Douglas.

Players are looking to garner individual points and honours. The winners and runner-ups in singles will be awarded further support and sponsorship for additional training, and direct entry in future tournaments in the region.

Coach Bradshaw told the Bermuda Sun: “Courtland and Billy Boyle are in their last year of eligibility for the under 16 group, so they will be playing in the top end of the players.  They’ll be playing with players who are a year or two years younger than they are, so on paper, we hope they do well.

“Luke Stirling and Dylan Powell played in the under-14 division in the ITF Junior event in early June, and Dylan actually beat Luke in the final. Right after that, a number of them were off island playing in events on the east coast doing training camps, so they’ve had some pretty good preparation up to this point. 

Now it’s just a matter of seeing how they do when it’s crunch time and when they face real competition.”

“Nick has this year and one more year, but again he’s been training hard and playing well, so there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be up with the leaders. 

“Ben Lines is the youngest of the group, and this is really his first year of eligibility for his age group, so for him it will be more of an experience.”

He added: “Realistically, I think we can do well.”