The $2.5 million LIME Inter-Secondary Schools Tennis Competition was launched yesterday at the Carlton Crescent headquarters of the telecommunications company.
Sixteen participating teams will contest this 15th renewal of the tournament over the next four weeks, beginning tomorrow, and will culminate in the national finals from November 19-21.
Ties will take place each Friday over the next month, with those in the Eastern Region taking place at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, the headquarters of Tennis Jamaica, and those in Western Region will be hosted at the Aquasol Theme Park in Montego Bay.
Teams will consist of a minimum of six and a maximum of 10 players, who must not have turned 19 before September 1, 2009. For this year's tournament, Tennis Jamaica has brought on board the Overseas Examinations Commission, KBC Learning Centre and Mayberry Investments as partners.
LIME's regional vice-president of corporate communications, Errol Miller, said: "The reason why this sponsorship of Tennis Jamaica is so dear to us is that it doesn't just emphasise tennis-playing skills, it also emphasises academics," he said, noting that when the tournament just began one of the conditions of sponsorship was that players had to maintain a C average to be able to play.
Encouragement
"Aligned to that is the number of young people who have been able to go on to tertiary education. We want to encourage Tennis Jamaica to continue along those lines."
Christine Gore, honorary secretary of Tennis Jamaica, said the money will be used to do a lot during the tournament.
"We have to rent courts, pay officials and (acquire equipment). We are going to spend a reasonable amount on marketing and advertising this year because it's our 15th year, and also some of it will go to the day-to-day nutrition of the children and also bring in two to three teams into Kingston for the national finals and we are going to have to cover those expenses," she said.
Today, Jamaica College will play Kingston College; Campion take on Wolmer's Boys, while Hillel go up against Ardenne. Out west, Ocho Rios play Cornwall College at 9 a.m. and Team Work Academy at 2 p.m.
In the girls' draw, Ardenne tackle Wolmer's Girls, Immaculate play Hillel Academy and Campion will take on Holy Childhood High. Montego Bay High play Ocho Rios High in the west.