Tennis is a sport not widely played in Belize, in fact it's safe to call it a game for the elites. There are only two public courts in Belize City which is the largest population center. Add to that the cost of tennis equipment, and the fact that it's alien to our sports culture, and it's not hard to understand why the biggest summer camps are for basketball and football, and decidedly, not tennis. But tennis phenoms Serena and Venus Williams came out of the public courts on the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles, and tennis instructor Michael Sosa is hoping that he can harvest some talent from Belize's inner city.
But he hasn't gone to the streets; he's gone to the Children's Home where he's offered scholarships to four boys. He says it's all about growing this largely insular sport.
Michael Sosa, Instructor
"What we have been trying to do, like what you said, is make tennis accessible to everyone. We feel that in order to truly develop the sport of tennis, we have to tap into all the resources that we have and as such it is important to try to make it available to those who are not able to afford tennis lessons.
We are trying to broaden the base of tennis talent that we have. It is very interesting that you use the word elite, tennis considered as an elite sport. Our aim, our ambition, is to produce elite players from all sectors and corners of the society.
We decided to give four scholarships to kids who are needy, who otherwise would not be able to afford the camp and what we did was we reached out to the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center and we gave four scholarships to four kids from that center.
Obviously of course having not been exposed to it, you know it was a little difficult at first for them but what we try to do here at the camp is to make it game oriented, make it fun, and that in itself makes it appealing to the kids. In fact we've had some resounding success this current year. We have as part of our pro bono effort, we have developed the fourteen and under sub-champion, the sixteen and under sub-champion, along with a group of other players who are upcoming as well."
Sosa received corporate sponsorship to pay for their participation in the camp.
