In the Community

Christmas has come early for some of Barbados’ young tennis enthusiasts thanks to the generous contribution from Sol.

In an effort to assist in the development of Barbados’ youth through their involvement in sports, Sol have has partnered with the Barbados Invitational Tennis Exhibition (BITE) to donate 100 tickets to this weekend’s much anticipated “Barbados’ Tennis Pon De Rock”, where they would get a chance to see four of the world’s best tennis players, Former World #1 Venus Williams; World #3, Victoria Azarenka; flamboyant Frenchman, World #16, Gael Monfils and John Isner (ranked at #18).

The 100 tickets will be distributed to local junior players through the Barbados Tennis Association as part of their Schools Tennis Initiative Programme, which works with tennis programmes at schools across the island to raise interest in the sport.

Ezra Prescod, Country Manager for SOL (BARBADOS) LTD., a Platinum sponsor of “Barbados’ Tennis Pon De Rock”, said Sol’s involvement in this venture goes beyond the development of youth tennis:

“As a responsible and committed corporate citizen, Sol is very keen to play a role in the overall development of Barbados’ youth. Sports has always been viewed as a positive and productive outlet for the youth of our society and BITE and the Barbados Tennis Association have been very active in using the sport of tennis as a means of positively influencing our young people. We saw this partnership as an opportunity to continue Sol’s work within the community, particularly at the youth level, which has been demonstrated by our recent involvement with schools such as St. Mary’s Primary, Westbury Primary and the Wesley Hall Junior School. We look forward to partnering again with these two organizations as we continue to work towards the development of our youth.”

Richard Harrison, Director of BITE, thanked Sol for their contribution, noting the importance of corporate involvement in initiatives such as these:

“The development of local tennis has been one of the major focuses of BITE since the hosting of the inaugural Tennis Pon De Rock in 2009, with all proceeds from the event going towards benefiting tennis in Barbados, including the Schools Tennis Initiative Development Programme. We are therefore very grateful to have Sol come on board as a sponsor of this effort to involve the youth in addition to being a major sponsor of the overall event.”

The 100 tickets donated by Sol will afford students access to Sunday’s event at the Wildey Gymnasium featuring Venus Williams vs Victoria Azarenka and Gael Monfils vs John Isner in two exhibition matches consisting of a minimum of two sets each. In addition, the students will witness an exciting spectacle when Monfils challenges one of Barbados’ top road tennis players at the locally developed sport.

Caption of attached photograph:
Ezra Prescod (second from right) Country Manager for Sol (Barbados) Limited, presents tickets to this weekend’s Barbados’ Tennis Pon De Rock to Richard Harrison (second from left), Director of BITE, who will be distributing them to local junior players through the Barbados Tennis Association, represented here by Patricia Murray (left). Also pictured here is Gina Cummins, Group Marketing & Communications Coordinator with Sol (Caribbean) Limited.