 The UWI Tennis Club’s female team won the East zone leg of the tournament on returning to the competition after a three year absence from team tennis.
The group had only six registered players: Rhonda Mohammed (captain), Shreene Khayyam, Carlista Mohammed, Rebecca Robinson, Maria Honare and Darcelle Charles (did not play).
Mohammed is the campus’ facility attendant and is a certified coach. In commenting on the team performance, she said that she felt good about their prospects, but they were not favourites to win the competition. She added that playing without the pressure of being the favourites helped her team to, “Focus on playing well in each match it faced”. The team spirit throughout the two weeks of the competition was high with team members staying on or going to venues to support other matches and also the men’s matches. She credited this esprit de corps as a major contributing factor to the ladies’ victory.
There were five teams in the East zone tournament with The UWI fielding one female team and two men’s teams. There will be a national championship but no date set for that, similarly, there will be a prize giving function for this East zone segment, but no date has been given.
 Mohammed hopes this victory is a progressive step for tennis within The UWI as having a pool of female players who are interested in playing competitively is the main challenge to playing in the annual tournament. She also said that holding a team together is difficult because, “The team hardly ever trained together as some players’ schedules would only allow them to train on mornings and others on evenings”.
She hopes that both students and staff members reading about this victory would be encouraged to get involved in tennis. She said, “Tennis builds comradery which is vital to a healthy working environment and good worker morale”. She applauded the efforts made by administration to develop programmes for students to learn the game and compete, but also acknowledged that many did not avail themselves of the opportunities offered. Mohammed thinks that more can be done to get staff members out on the courts; especially in light of national initiatives to combat lifestyles diseases, tennis right on campus is a good place to start.
The win by the ladies tennis team was a triumphant step in the right direction for tennis at The UWI. Mohammed is hoping that this is the best kind of advertising for the game and that it pays off for growing campus wide interest in the sport.
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