Road tennis tournaments with lucrative prizes for the winners are on a downward spiral, according to Dale Clarke, the chief executive officer and founder of the Professional Road Tennis Association (PRTA).
Clarke transformed Barbados’ only indigenous sport with tournaments such as the Monarchs of the Courts, and the RT13 Challenge.
Before Clarke got involved in promoting road tennis tournaments, the winners of the competitions received around $300 and a trophy.
Clarke sought sponsorship to increase the prize money and set up seating around the courts at tournament venues to give them a more professional look.
The winner of the inaugural Monarchs of the Courts tournament in 2014, Antoine Lil Man Daniel, won $10 000. Two years later, Mark Venom Griffith drove away with a car valued at $65 000 after winning the third edition of the tournament.
In 2017, Julian Michael Jackson White and Sheldene Walrond, the winners of the men’s and women’s titles respectively, won cars that were worth a combined value of $140 000.
“I believe that road tennis is taking a nosedive backwards,” Clarke told Barbados TODAY. “Before COVID-19, there were about four major tournaments offering prize money of over $150 000; now, there is only one such tournament. I cautioned the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Council that their method of involvement in road tennis should be one of facilitating and not the staging of tournaments.”
Clarke stressed that the pool of sponsors is extremely small and it is difficult for organizations like the PRTA to compete with the government for sponsorship to promote tournaments. He however made it clear that the government was not completely to blame for the decrease in the tournaments.
“The government is not solely to blame for the decline of the tournaments, there are other stakeholders and tournament organizers that helped with the demise of the progress,” he said. “I was privileged to study marketing, so I am aware of the return on investment a sponsor receives when they are associated with events, especially successful ones.
‘The PRTA built the sport to a level where we could negotiate Barbados to get some serious sponsorship to elevate the sport. Other organisations and promoters approached the same sponsors with proposals that were less than the PRTA were asking for without understanding the ROI the sponsor would receive.
“I cannot blame the sponsors for accepting the cheaper offers, but on the flip side, this means that the lucrative prizes will be a thing of the past.”
The PRTA has not staged a tournament since the Barbados Road Tennis Cup in December 2022, but Clarke said his passion for road tennis remains strong.
“I will always have a passion for road tennis, the game is in my DNA. It has become my personal social revolution to enhance and empower people from the lower strata of society. The inclusive nature of road tennis, and the minimal cost it takes to play the game, makes it the ideal sport for the masses “Clarke said.
Clarke said he would like to continue to promote road tennis tournaments but declared it is now beyond his control.
He said: “Honestly, I would like to continue promoting tournaments, but that is out of my hands because it depends on Corporate Barbados. I have sent out proposals, so hopefully, we will get the support to stage tournaments sometime soon.
“Meantime, we will continue to focus on the global development of the sport. The documentary on road tennis we partnered with the Tennis Channel has been well received with over 129 000 views. We are hoping to visit Africa in the second quarter of the year to promote the game.”
(DH)
