Anguilla Tennis Academy Inc.

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10 Year Anniversary Summer Tennis Camp Ends

The 2005 summer tennis camp ended on July 29 after three straight weeks of intense tennis instruction. This year marked the ten year anniversary of the Anguilla Tennis Academy and there was much to celebrate. The first two weeks of the camp were held at the Viceroy tennis courts in West End and were conducted by Jason Allen and Jonathan Collazo, both originally from Florida. Jason and Jonathan brought a combined 25 years of tennis teaching experience to the Anguillian children.

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The third and final week saw the arrival of 15 more international coaches which provided the children with more personalized instruction. There were coaches from the United States, Australia, England, South Africa, and Anguilla. Along with the coaches came 40 international participants from the USA, St. Maarten, and St. Kitts. It was indeed a spectacular week for the children and all those involved.

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To celebrate the ten year anniversary, country music stars came from Nashville, Tennessee and teamed up with local artists such as Bankie Banks, the Shiloh Band, and Evan Webster to put on a benefit concert on July 26. The main goal of this exciting night of music was to promote awareness in the community of the ATA's plight. Moreover, a production crew spearheaded by Greg Travis, owner of Travis Television, was in attendance documenting the concert and tennis camp to produce a one hour special on the Anguilla Tennis Academy. This special will be seen in 40.5 million homes across the world.

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The state of the art facility is well on its way to being completed. The projected completion date is March 2006. Phase one of the project, the completion of the building, will hopefully be done by December with phase two, court construction, commencing in January.

Mitchelle Lake commented, "I was happy to see that the children had a wonderful time, but most importantly, they learned a great deal. The numbers keep gwoing and the interest in tennis is abundantly apparent which warrants the construction of this facility. We are very close and will continue to move forward. I would personally like to thank all the sponsors for their continued support, without them there is no program."