In an effort to increase its pool of qualified tennis coaches, Tennis Jamaica is conducting a 12-day, Level 1 tennis course in collaboration with the International Tennis Federation (ITF), at its headquarters, the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, at Piccadilly Road in Kingston.

The course started last Friday and runs to Tuesday, November 6. The course is being run by John Goede, an ITF Development Officer, and Evan Williams, one of Jamaica's senior coaches.

There are seven participants, and those who are successful will be certified to teach beginners and intermediate players. The first three days of the course will be devoted to Play and Stay tennis, for very young players, and the other nine days will be devoted to the rudiments of coaching tennis primarily to intermediate players.

The participants will be given the skills required to introduce new candidates to tennis through mini tennis, to promote tennis at the grass-roots level, and to coach players up to junior competition level.

To achieve certification, participants will do several exams, including an individual lesson test, a group lesson test, a tennis playing/demonstration test, and a written theory test.

Tennis Jamaica president Aswad Morgan told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that "our coaches are a key part of the Tennis Jamaica Development Programme, and our aim is to facilitate high-level instruction courses so as to increase proficiency among our players. We have great plans for the future of tennis in Jamaica, and training is an important part of the way forward."