February 2018 Winterbotham Trust sponsor new Bahamas IC Junior Tennis Series To help develop tennis in the younger age groups of U10 and U12, the IC of The Bahamas is to stage a series of five weekend tournaments in The Bahamas throughout 2018. President of the IC of The Bahamas, Kit Spencer, extends his thanks to The Winterbotham Trust Company, who as the major sponsor, are enabling such an exciting event happen. Ivan Hooper, CEO of Winterbotham Bahamas, said: “We are pleased to support this great new tennis initiative that reaches young Bahamians at an age that is significant in both their tennis and personal development through an organisation we have confidence in. The Winterbotham IC Junior Series adds to our continued support in developing younger generations through education and sports.” Organiser Neil Mactaggart, Vice President of the IC of The Bahamas, said: “We have managed to secure five top venues that will reach a wide audience of young tennis players. This includes The Lleyton Hewitt Albany Tennis Academy, the fine new Baha Mar Resort Tennis Facility, the National Tennis Centre, the traditional Gym Tennis Club and a venue yet to be determined on Grand Bahama Island.” The series is BLTA approved. The first event is the weekend of 17th/18th February at the National Tennis Centre to be followed by the Lleyton Hewitt Albany Tennis Academy on 14th/15th April and Baha Mar on 19th/20th May. The weekend events are a round robin format to ensure a minimum of three matches each day per player. Regular yellow balls will be used for the U12’s and a softer “green dot” ball for the U10’s will be used with short set format on a regular court. At the conclusion of the five event series, the IC will give awards to top players to help their tennis development. The IC motto is “hands across the net, friendship across the ocean”, encouraging strong competition with good camaraderie and sportsmanship. The IC plan to include a lunch for players as part of the exercise to help foster young players with potential who can develop as a group of like-minded friends through future years. It is hoped that as the series develops overseas players will be encouraged to compete alongside Bahamian players to increase everyone’s experience. For more Information on Winterbotham Group: www.winterbotham.com Previous Article IC's Helena Sukova and Michael Stich inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame Next Article Gabriela Sabatini Accepts 2017 CQS Jean Borotra Award