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Anselm was elected to head the association—which is facing suspension from the International Tennis Federation—during a Wednesday night meeting held at the Dept. of Youth Affairs and Sports. He’s joined by Scott Bryson, Vice President, Humphrey Leue, secretary general and Laverne Gumbs, treasurer. Carol Mitchell will function as the public relations officer and Carvin Malone is the players’ representative.
Besides ITF suspension for not paying outstanding membership dues, Anselm’s new group faces a series of other challenges. “First, we cannot have a BVI Open this year and I think everybody was looking forward to it,” he said of the event that is usually played during the first weekend in July. “Because of time constraints, we can’t have it. Financially, we need to get our act back in shape and there are a lot of other things we have to polish up.”
Anselm, who represented the BVI at the 2006 Central American Games and started a youth program after he returned, said his focus will be on youth development. He said one of his biggest goals is having a fully functioning tennis academy in the BVI. “Having kids from east to west, having the government getting involved in building tennis courts on the west side—Sea Cows Bay, Cane Garden Bay—where ever there’s space to build courts, so that we can have all the kids involved in tennis,” he said. “There’s so much opportunity for kids in tennis, so that’s one of my greatest focuses for the coming year.”
Anselm said with the new committee, he also sees players in the future representing the BVI a the Central American and Caribbean Games, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games. “I represented the BVI at the CAC Games and I know the impact it had on my life as a tennis player,” he stated. “With the committee we have, I think we can get players going to the regional tournaments.”
Among other plans will be the revision and upgrading of the association’s constitution. © Copyright 2007 BVI Olympic Committee |
