NEXT Wednesday David Lambert will take over as president of the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association ? for the fourth time.

After serving out his third term Lambert was badly in need of a break so that he could concentrate at his main job ? that as tennis director at Elbow Beach.

"I really did need a break back then," he said this week. "I had a number of personal projects. I am director of tennis at Elbow Beach where we have a lot of groups coming into Bermuda who want clinics, round robins and individual attention. That is what I do and Elbow has been very busy. I had to also refocus on getting the Elbow Beach Celebrity Classic back up and running because that was important to the hotel. I am also director of tennis at Pomander Gate which has 400 members."

But when a number of people came to him recently asking that he stand for the president of the BLTA this year, Lambert said he would ? but with one condition. That was if no one else was going to stand.

"I didn't want that," he said. "I didn't want an election fight. I don't need that quite honestly but I was more than willing to help the sport."

As it turned out, Lambert was the only candidate and will take over from Ross Hillen at the BLTA's annual general meeting next Wednesday.

And while he does have a number of things he wants to accomplish during his fourth term, his main one is the one closest to his heart.

"My main objective will be to get as many young players on tennis scholarships at colleges as possible. I have always said that I want to see at least 10 young women and 10 young men on tennis college scholarships. If we have 20 Bermudians on scholarships we will never have to worry about who is going to represent us in the Davis and Fed Cups, Island Games or whatever international competition. We need a pool of people who are playing at a high level regularly.

"People play tennis for different reasons. Some play to stay in shape, some play because they have a dream of being the best that they can be. When I meet with juniors I ask them what they want out of the game and many tell me that they want to be the best in the world or that they eventually want to play on the WTA or ATP tours. There is nothing wrong with that. It is wonderful but my goal as president is to make sure that every component of the development plan is working. That plan was adopted by the BLTA from the International Tennis Federation. I want that plan to be running at full strength. At the top of programme is Davis Cup, Fed Cup and college scholarships. Our school programme, junior tournament and international tournaments are all so important."

And then those players who are good enough and have been on college scholarships may get the chance to play Futures tournaments.

"The Futures are after college tournaments and then after the Futures tournaments are the Challengers and we have one in Bermuda ? the XL Open. Once you are on the Challenger circuit you really have your foot in the door and the sky is the limit. But we have to have a development plan and I know it can work. We have to apply ourselves."

Lambert said he also likes to delegate authority to various committees. And one of those committees will be working with the two dozen professionals in Bermuda.

"My main objective there will be to be in touch with all the pros in Bermuda to find out what programmes they are offering, how many juniors are in their programmes, what other plans they have. I really want to reactivate the Professional Association. I was president of it back in 1995 but over the years it has waned a bit.

"I would like the Professional Association to provide support for the BLTA programmes. For instance if we need a pro to run a programme we can go to that body of certified pros and say 'listen so and so needs someone to do this programme in St. George's or Southampton or whatever'. They can say this is who we have, they are available at this time and this is how money it will cost'. This will get things moving quicker. There are 24 pros in Bermuda and a large percentage are associated with professional associations overseas ? associations like the Professional Tennis Registry which has thousands of members from all over world. All these contacts can work in our favour. Everyone has to get involved to make the game better in Bermuda. It has to be inclusive. As president I consider my job as basically an architect. We have so many people in Bermuda who have so much to offer and we have to use everyone."

Lambert has three children who are heavily involved in the game. But he said he didn't deliberately push them into the sport.

"Basically since they learned to walk they came to the court with me and just picked the game up," he said.

His kids are Tara, 25, Crystal 23 and Jacklyn 18.

Tara, who is about to give birth, managed to get a scholarship to South Carolina State and graduated with a degree in sports management and also taught in Indiana before returning to Bermuda. Crystal is currently helping with her father teaching in Bermuda while the youngster Jacklyn is attending the Bill Adams Tennis Academy in Florida.

"Jacklyn right now has four offers from colleges for a tennis scholarship," said Lambert.