COLERIDGE Place knows better than anyone how important it is for Bermuda's young tennis players to get off the island and compete against international competition. And to that end he has been hosting a fund-raising golf tournament on his birthday every year to raise much needed cash to send those youngsters away.

"The passing of another year and the approach of another birthday signifies different things to different people. For me it is a time to give thanks and give back," he said this week ahead of the charity tournament which will be staged on Wednesday at the Belmont Hills layout.

"I give thanks for many things but especially for the opportunity to give back to tennis through my fund-raising birthday golf tournament. I feel I have a definite purpose and that is to see Bermuda's top junior tennis players travel and participate in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior summer circuit tournaments which would help to elevate their games," said Place who also coaches many of Bermuda's youngsters.

Place, a vice-president of the BLTA, said: "To date I have been able to support eight junior tennis players to compete in the ITF junior summer circuit tournaments and as a result of which one of them was invited by the representative for the Caribbean Summer Circuit Tournament to attend the ITF/COTECC Regional Training Camp in the Bahamas last September."

That player was 13-year-old Kieran Joynes. "Actually he was noticed by the Development Officer for the ITF Caribbean Summer Circuit Region Tournaments when we were competing in an ITF junior event in the Dominican Republic in August last year and a few weeks later the BLTA received an invitation for him to participate in a training camp. The assessment the BLTA received on Kieran was very encouraging and he enjoyed the experience." Place said that it would have been a golden opportunity missed were it not for his sponsors and the money raised by the tournament. "The youngster's parents would not have been able to send him and the BLTA was only able to do so because of the funds raised in the tournament which are specifically set aside for this sort of thing."

Getting Bermuda's young players international experience is a must, said Place.

"This exposure will greatly improve the standard of junior tennis, as international participation is vital to the growth of tennis in Bermuda. The ITF Junior Summer Circuit tournaments in the Caribbean region allows our local players to win points towards their ranking. If our junior players cannot play in three or more tournaments a season it could hurt our participation in this event. Other countries, approximately 20, are playing between four and six tournaments a season to maintain their ranking points. That's why I feel I need to have the tournament to raise funds to assist our juniors to compete almost on the same level as the rest of the countries. The ITF Junior Summer Circuit also awards scholarships to players based on their world ranking points so my goal is to see the players earn more ranking points than they have been earning in the past from competing in only one ITF tournament locally."

Place said he gets about 110 players in his charity golf tourney and this will be the fourth year he has staged the event. "I will continue to advance my vision of assisting Bermuda's top junior tennis players by organising the tournament and I am extremely grateful to the Belmont Hills management and staff, sponsors, players and volunteers who have supported the event over the past three years."