TEENAGE Jacklyn Lambert became the first Bermudian to win a ITF Junior title last month.Lambert, who attends the Bill Adams Tennis Academy in Florida, teamed up with Trinidad's Carlista Mohammed to win the Under-18 double title at the Curacao Junior Open.

Lambert's father, David Lambert who is the pro at Elbow Beach, said: "Jacklyn would not have won that title if she had stayed in Bermuda. We have lots of wonderful coaches here but when the players get to a certain level we have to let them go — and not just in tennis but all sports."

This is the second year that Lambert has attended the Bill Adams Tennis Academy, and Adams said this week: "Jacklyn is doing rather well now. I believe she is the first Bermudian to win a ITF title (grade 5 tournament)."

Adams also has other Bermudians at his academy — namely McKenzie Bean (son of Port Royal pro Steve Bean who is also the Davis Cup captain) and Naim Azar who is one of Bermuda's top juniors.

"Jacklyn and all the other Bermudians are also doing very well — it seems that Bermudian tennis is moving forward," said Adams who added, "our aim here is to improve their tennis with the hope that they will be able to get college scholarships — and if we get lucky maybe they can go on to become professionals."

The academy is based in Pembroke Pines, just west of Fort Lauderdale. "It is a hot spot for tennis. I have about 20 kids here — most between the ages of 14 and 18 but also a couple of younger ones," said Adams.

The youngsters play tournaments once every two weeks "and a lot of ITF tournament" and of Lambert Adams said: "This is Jacklyn's second year. In the beginning I saw that she had some potential but she was not what you would consider a real competitive player. She has now developed and is very competitive — she is giving good performances."

Many of the kids under his control come from the West Indies. "I have a lot of kids from the West Indies — from places like Trinidad, Barbados, St. Lucia, Jamaica, St. Vincent and of course Bermuda. I also have a couple (of West Indians) from New York," said Adams.

And it is not just the physical side of the game that he works on. "We work a lot on their mental side of the game. Sometimes we bring the parents in and let the kids know what the parents are sacrificing. We emphasis a lot of mental toughness."

Adams, who is originally from Guyana and played college tennis in the US, has worked all over the world teaching the game. "I have been in Italy, France, Germany and of course the US," he said adding that for a while he ran the Brooklyn Tennis Academy and worked close with the famous Harry Hopman from Australia. "He was a fantastic man. It was one of my greatest experiences working alongside him," he added.

Jacklyn's father David said: "Before Jacklyn went to the academy she was ranked in the 1300s in the world and now she is ranked in the 500s.

"What these juniors are realising is that in order to get that good and stay that good they have to travel. This is all in line with the thinking of the Celebrity Classic (which raises money to send youngsters abroad).

"If we can get our juniors representing Bermuda at age of 17 we will be ready. One of my personal goals is to say that we have 10 young men and 10 young women on college scholarships."

In the Curacao Junior Open Lambert and Mohammed met up with Bermuda's Caillin Gordon and Grenada's Lois Alexis in the quarter-finals and won 6-4, 6-4 and then in the semi-finals they were taken to three sets by Hannah Berner from the US and Kristen Lopez from Barbados before coming out on top 6-7, 6-3, 7-5. In the final they beat Tanisha Hodgson from Aruba and Tiffany Testing from Curacao 6-2, 6-2.