By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

ATHLETES received top honours at the inaugural Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) Recognition Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening at the National Tennis Centre (NTC).

Among the awards presented at the ceremony were the senior male and female athlete of the year, junior achiever award of excellence, association awards, sponsorships (award of appreciation), media awards, NTC director of service, excellence in service, along with other awards for the BLTA executive team members.

Perry Newton, president of the BLTA, said the first awards ceremony has been in the pipeline for the last two years but it was great to finally have an opportunity to recognise those who have not only demonstrated top performances in the sport but also contributed to it behind the scenes.

“It was a great night of celebration recognising those who have given selfless service in areas of media, tennis administration, association work, national tournament and team representation, coaching, community outreach, NTC development and management and more.

“We also wanted to honour some of the persons who have been working diligently during the pandemic to ensure that we were able to host tournaments and clinics to keep tennis up and running,” explained Newton.

Denali Nottage, who won the 2022 Giorgio Baldacci Tennis Nationals and represented The Bahamas at his first Davis Cup in Paraguay earlier this year, took home the senior male athlete of the year award.

While at the 2023 Davis Cup competing out of Americas Group III, Nottage helped The Bahamas to knock off Honduras 3-0 and earned his first singles win at the event. Additionally, the Freeport native won the crown at the Casely $10k Men’s Open in Hollywood, Florida.

Taking home the senior female athlete of the year was none other than Sydney Clarke, who is currently ranked number one at the 2023 Giorgio Baldacci Tennis Nationals.

Clarke represented the country at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, alongside Justin Roberts and Kevin Major Jr. The 22-year-old teamed up with her younger sister Sarai Clarke at the sixth Bahamas Games to give the Andros Chickcharnies a gold-medal finish.

In the junior category, Tatyana Madu, who finished as a double crown winner at the U-14 COTECC Junkanoo Bowl, received a Junior Achiever Award of Excellence.

Patrick Mactaggart, recipient of the boys’ singles title at the U14 Junkanoo Bowl, was also selected along with Jerald Carroll and Jalisa Clarke.

The Association awards went to the Abaco Tennis Association for their continued growth in the sport of tennis. The Eleuthera Tennis Association got the community outreach honours and the Grand Bahama Tennis Association was awarded the tournament participation award. The president’s award for excellence in service went to former BLTA president Kit Spencer for his role in the development of the NTC.

Cornell “Mickey” Williams was recognised for his officiating and administration duties.

Mark Knowles, former professional tennis player, was honoured for his invaluable contributions to tennis.

Darnette Weir, Paula Whitfield and Mateo Smith also saw their efforts with the Play Tennis and After School programme celebrated.

Other awards:

Vice President Awards- Excellence in Service

Bradley Bain – Coaching, Administration and Officiating

Marvin Rolle – Coaching and Team Commitment

Malkovich “Steve” Taylor – Coaching, Administration and Officiating

Daniel Rigby – Coaching and Administration

Dugald Small - Coaching

Esther Newton - Media and Officiating - The sponsorship award of appreciation went to Limeade, Royal Bank of Canada, Automotive Industrial Distributors Ltd and Bahamas Waste Management.

Eugene Gibson was the lone recipient of the NTC Director Service Award.

Media awards for a stellar job in reporting and bringing awareness to the BLTA’s players and programmes were presented to Tenajh Sweeting and Brent Stubbs (Tribune Sports section) and Simba French (Nassau Guardian Sports section).

Newton also presented awards of appreciation to executive team members Chilean Burrows, Cameel McDonald, Yvette Godet, Tara Mactaggart and Timothy Dames.Overall, Newton was impressed with the 2023 year of competition for the BLTA. “It was a good and exciting year, we are just looking forward to the cycle again and adding more events and opportunities to train younger players. We are also looking forward to the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup,” he said.

Calendar year wraps up Thursday after the Giorgio Baldacci Open National Tennis Championships.