The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the past 19 years, Kevin ‘KJ’ Major and Philip Major Jr have been holding court as two of the country’s top players from the junior to the senior level. Today, the closely knitted family members are combining their talent to provide instructions to the next generation of players.

They have formed their own tennis programme, Island Tennis Bahamas, which was officially launched yesterday with teaching sessions for players from 4-19 years. They operate from both the Atlantis and Baha Mar Tennis Centres between the hours of 4-7:30pm, but also conduct sessions as requested during the day.

PJ Major, who at 25, is the brother of 26-year-old KJ Major’s father, Kevin Major Sr, said after spending so much time on and off the court together, they decided to form their own organisation after working the past year as coaches in the Mark Knowles Tennis Academy.

“We both know that tennis is near and dear to our hearts and because someone did it for us, we wanted to give some of the players an even better experience than we had,” PJ Major said. “We want to make sure that we do our best as role models to display our passion as we help to grow the sport.

“The sport has done so much for us, building our character and we know that there are so many kids who would love to play tennis and need somewhere to go and so we hope to do an outreach programme in the communities to help to continue to grow tennis and give them something productive to do.”

KJ Major said: “I know the kind of impact that we can make with these players on and off the court and helping them to become professional athletes,” he said. “Our job is really to nurture them and watch them grow into what they want to be.

“It’s not so much about us, but it’s about them and providing the opportunities for these kids to learn and grow in their own home and not have to go to the various tennis academics to train. When they travel, we want them to go just to play. We will be offering them a high level of mental, fitness and recovery training. So when you put those three together, you create a natural athlete instantly.”

Through the programme, KJ Major said the players will decide their own destiny as they choose whether they just want to play at the junior level, advance to the senior or go all the way and become a professional player.

“They won’t have anything to hold them back. I think that’s a great thing to have in your own backyard because a lot of people in the Caribbean have to travel to get it, but now you have players who bring their knowledge directly to them,” PJ Major said. “We have a unique aspect to share with them.”

Oneil Mortimer joins PJ and KJ Major as coaches in the programme. In addition to teaching tennis, Island Tennis Bahamas provides a full range of professional amenities, including personal fitness, headed by Laron Miller, mental training by Dr Wayne Thompson, physical therapy or recovery coach by Janet Gibson and Angela Mackey, who will serve as the yoga and mobility coach.

When they’re not actually on the court practicing, Island Tennis Bahamas will provide video training and help to facilitate the players in their exposure to international matchplay throughout the Caribbean and the United States of America.

“We created a programme for everyone to be able to develop their skills,” PJ Major said.

“You never know what could become of it, so we just wanted to reach out to as many kids in the Bahamas as we can in the sport of tennis.”

Although they are actually involved in getting their programme off the ground, both PJ and KJ Major said they will continue to do their part in representing the country at the international level.

While they missed the participation in the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s annual Giorgio Baldacci National Open Tennis Tournament in December at the National Tennis Centre, they’re hoping to be ready for the final selection tournament for the Davis Cup team later this year.