TO see competitive, international, high-level competition return to Jamaican soil is one of his visions, recently-elected president of Tennis Jamaica, Aubyn Hill, told the Sunday Observer.

“We need to get back to a place where we have constant high-standard international competition in Jamaica so that the athletes that we have… who want to play tennis will get a chance to be at the top level,” said Hill, who was elected unanimously to the top tennis post on August 19.

“In any sport, you have to have the competition…,” Hill added.

The former banker who spent 30 years working in the Arabian Peninsula and Sri Lanka said developing, growing and training coaches locally is an important part of the equation.

“If I’m going to go in, I want to know the thing I’m going into is needed and I won’t make any assumptions,” he said about assuming the reins of the local body.

He said he was impressed by the responses given to him at the time, including one that stood out.

“(I was told that) the people who do need Tennis Jamaica are those number of kids that they have from the inner-city who would never have a chance to play this game and never a chance for the exposure and the grooming and learning the civics and learning to operate in a different society than the one they live,” he explained.

The Munro College alumnus is also Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Sugar Divestment Enterprise, but says he has learnt the art of effective time management.

“If you want something to be done, give it to someone who is busy,” he said. “What happens then is that you have to manage your time because at the level I operate at the biggest challenge I have is to manage my time to cover the things that I must. It helps if you love what you’re doing… I happen to love tennis…,” he added.

Hill told the Sunday Observer that since his election, he has ordered an inventory of the tennis facilities around the country, as well as a plan of action for the development of the sport locally, which will go to the board of Tennis Jamaica for approval.

“… What you find is that they’re under-utilised and the people who really do need to play tennis can use them if we organise them properly under the umbrella of Tennis Jamaica,” he said of the facilities.

He added that the plan for tennis, developed by technical director Douglas Burke and Lockett McGregor, is a multi-million dollar one and he hopes to encourage corporate Jamaica to come on board once the elements are fine-tuned and approved.

“I’m thinking of building an organisation,” he said. “You have to have a programme and get people to buy into it.”

“It’s useless for me to go to a sponsor and say, ‘I want you to sponsor me for one year’,” he said. “I have to go and say I want you to help me build back Tennis Jamaica and here is my plan and I have sponsors working with that plan…”

Shortly after his election, Hill travelled to New York where he met with influential officials at the US Open tournament at Flushing Meadows while getting a chance to watch the men’s and women’s singles finals won by Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters, respectively.

“It turned out to be fruitful and this is going to be a continuing discussion as we try to build Tennis Jamaica and make sure Tennis Jamaica keeps very strong contacts,” he stated.

While tennis has been a launching pad for many young Jamaicans to earn scholarships to study at universities in the United States, Hill also has a vision that talented young local players realise they can make a career out of the sport and have successful lives as tennis professionals.

“Tennis Jamaica must also produce very good tennis players and players who can compete at the highest level,” he declared.

He noted that a number of the greatest players in history like Boris Becker and Pete Sampras had achieved great success despite not attending college.

“Very often, tennis players have to make a choice at a very early age… very often the outstanding tennis player will have to make that choice so some will choose to take a scholarship and go to university, and we will encourage many of that, but others might choose that ‘my job is going to be tennis and it’s a risk if I don’t make it by 18 or 19 I can still go to college, but between 14 and 18, my job is going to be a tennis star,” he mused.

He added: “Tennis Jamaica wants to be able to accommodate that spectrum of players… I want to make sure that Tennis Jamaica provides opportunities for every worthwhile tennis aspirant at a young age so that they can develop their talent.”