On Friday morning, July 25th, in the midst of its 30th anniversary celebrations, the Anguilla Tennis Academy, under the goodwill directive of its President, Mitchelle Lake, was delighted to present a collection of various bits of tennis gear to the Anguilla National Tennis Association.
Accepting the supplies on behalf of the Anguilla National Tennis Association was its President Michelle Owen-Vasilis. The presentation took place at the state-of-the art Anguilla Tennis Academy facility in Blowing Point in a warm and amiable atmosphere. On hand to witness the presentation was the Director of Sports, Delano Mussington.
Mr. Mussington remarked: “I am indeed happy to be here this morning to witness this collaborative effort where the Anguilla Tennis Academy makes this wonderful contribution to the National Tennis Association. We at the Department of Sports would definitely want to see tennis grow bigger on the island.”
He said that he appreciates Mitch’s amazing work in tennis over the past 30 years, and he has admired his passion in developing tennis particularly among Anguilla’s children. He noted that he also admires the number of scholarships that Mitch had been able to provide for many of these youngsters through the medium of tennis. “The Department of Sports stands in support of tennis in whatever way we can, going forward,” Mr. Mussington pledged.
In making the presentation, Mr. Lake stressed the importance of partnering with the National Tennis Association and the Department of Sports for the further advancement of tennis in Anguilla.
“We would like to celebrate another 30 years, but we can’t do it alone,” he said. “The Anguilla Tennis Academy is excited about collaborating with the Anguilla National Tennis Association and the Department of Sports to take tennis to the next level.”
He said he would like to take tennis into the schools and into the communities by sharing the Blowing Point tennis facility so that the number of tennis-related activities and programmes can be increased, thus maximizing the image of tennis here, and causing the sport to flourish in Anguilla.
Explaining the source of the presentation, Mr. Lake announced: “We had recently reached out, on the behalf of the Anguilla Tennis Academy, to our partners in the US, and we had requested that they put together a special package so that we can donate it to the Anguilla National Tennis Association. And with this wonderful bag, we were able to source a variety of tennis products which we now present to the National Tennis Association so that they can use these tennis items in their programmes to help to grow the sport of tennis in the communities and in the schools.”
In accepting the bag of tennis items, President Michelle Owen-Vasilis expressed her gratitude: “Let me say congratulations to you Mitch, for this milestone of 30 years. On behalf of the National Tennis Association we want to say how thankful we are, indeed, to be receiving these items that would assist us in our tennis programme.”
The big bag contained several items including mini-nets, children’s rackets, tape for making demarcation lines on flat surfaces, as well as many more useful tennis items.
