COLE BAY—The newly-formed Dutch Antilles St. Maarten Tennis Association has ambitious plans for developing tennis in St. Maarten, including establishing a tennis academy.
The association’s President Dr. Mostafa Showraki explained the association is fully supported and recognised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Central America and Caribbean Tennis Confederation (COTECC), a dependency of ITF.
“Dutch Antilles in the name of the association is important because it means the Netherlands can support us too,” said Showraki. “In fact, we can go everywhere and have been receiving proposals and invitations but we are not that organised yet with our player categories.”
Showraki, an avid Canadian tennis player who regards St. Maarten as his second home, has been visiting the island since 2007.
“I decided to do this three years ago, and finally we got it done. Now the plan is to organise and develop local tennis and from there host international events; juniors, seniors, adults, wheel chair and beach tennis.”
Les Brown is in charge of local development as Youth Development Coordinator and will be working with coaches Tony Lake, Tim Rozenburg, and Rose Lyn Coleman. Showraki will take charge of international events.
Showraki disclosed on this visit he is on a mission to find a plot of land that would be suitable to build a clubhouse and be sufficiently large enough to have at least four to five tennis courts, the minimum to host international events. He added he is negotiating with Country Club Port de Plaisance, widely acknowledged as having the best tennis courts, for an agreement to host some tournaments in the meantime.
“ITF prefers that we have our own association and clubhouse and they will give us a grant to buy our own piece of land. We have already looked at two plots of land and will send the report to ITF to see if they approve. The long-term objective is to have a great tennis academy here.”
The association encourages any tennis players to join the association, particularly Juniors as they can be offered many international opportunities through ITF. To contact the association email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
