Tennis Jamaica set to host ITF Level Two coaching course

In an effort to improve the game locally, John Azar, president of Tennis Jamaica (TJ), said his administration will be staging an International Tennis Federation (ITF) Level Two coaching course later this year.

Azar told STAR Sports that this course is very important to the development of the sport because the local coaches, who are going to take in the event, will be exposed to top-class coaching methods.

"Jamaica hosting this level Two ITF coaching seminar later in the year with a lot of our local coaches who are unable to travel overseas to take part in it, is very important for us," said Azar following yesterday's press launch, which was held at the Liguanea Club in Kingston.

Critical role

"This is a vision that we have and so the coaches will certainly play a critical role in the development of the sport. The better the coaches, then ultimately the better the players will be that they produce," he said.

"The ITF has also invited one of our local coaches to travel overseas to participate in a coaching camp in Valencia, Spain, and so clearly the more we can expose our local coaches, the better it will be so that they can impart that knowledge on our upcoming juniors," Azar said.

The TJ boss also announced that Jamaica's number one tennis player Randy Phillips will represent the country at next month's Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.

Phillips, who helped Jamaica qualify for Group Two of the ITF Davis Cup last month, said he is looking forward to the championships.

"I am feeling very excited because it is going to be my first time playing an international individual tournament like this for Jamaica," said Phillips.

"I know that it is a pretty high level tournament and so I am going to train very hard over the next few weeks and just going out there and do my best when the time comes," he said.