TENNIS pro Coleridge Place is set to stage his third Birthday Golf Tournament to raise funds in order to help out Bermuda’s juniors.The tournament will be held on Place’s birthday, Wednesday, January 31 at Belmont Hills.

Place, who has over the years worked with many of the island’s promising young players, said so far the previous two Birthday Tournaments have raised nearly $17,000.

“I just want to give back something and help the youth as I was helped,” he said this week.

“Through special friends like Alec Anderson, our juniors and others have been able to experience tennis at an international level through the XL Tournament.

“Juniors have the opportunity now to have clinics with some of the world’s best tennis players. Junior tennis players in my time never had these opportunities — players like Vernal Davis, Bruce Sims, Ronnie Smith, Brian Talbot, Lincoln Outerbridge, John Sinclair, Dennis Harris, David Lambert, Sam Maybury, Donna Bradshaw, Clair Smith, Kelly Way and many more.”

Place said he praised David Lambert “and his committee” for starting up the Bank of Bermuda Foundation’s ITF tournament every summer.

“When I reflect on how far junior tennis has come in Bermuda, we have no other choice but to support further development,” he said.

“David and I were discussing tennis one day and I said to him that my 50th birthday was coming up and I was going to have a small fun golf tournament and would ask the guys to give me a donation for junior tennis,” said Place.

As it turned out the “fun golf tournament” attracted 106 players!

“I was so gratified by the support of sponsors and the golfing fraternity that I decided to make it an annual fundraiser for juniors competing in international tournaments under the auspices of the International Tennis Federation Junior Summer Circuit Tournaments in Bermuda and also the Caribbean islands,” he said.

And Place said that “from these fundraising golf tournaments, we’ve been able to support juniors to travel abroad and participate in ITF Junior Summer Circuit Tournaments last summer”.

He added: “This exposure will greatly improve the standard of junior tennis as international participation is vital to the growth of tennis in Bermuda.”

Place said he has fond memories of when he was a junior and looked up to older players from that time in the 1960s.

“There were players like Cressy Swan, Clifford Darrell, Malcolm Gosling Sr., John Rihiluoma Sr., Bill Brewer, William (Billy) Boyle, Ann Smith Gordon, Peggy Sinclair, Allan Simmons, Cromwell Manders, El (Pop) Smith, Donald Lottimore and many more.

“With these legends at heart I thought it would only be right to do something of this sort to keep their dream alive. They all supported junior tennis and the one that stands out the most who volunteered his time every Saturday morning to help juniors outside of their lessons was Mr. Cromwell Manders.”

Place said he remembered when one of the pros in Manders’ Saturday morning junior programme had a problem and had to cancel his position.

“I was asked if I could fill in temporarily. I did not hesitate to say yes not knowing that I would go on to have a permanent position in that Saturday junior morning programme.

“I subsequently headed up a Saturday morning junior programme for the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association with a small contingent of coaches. The programme was very successful as a result of Mr. Manders’ mentoring. Through this experience I developed a passion for working with junior tennis players.

During his fun tourney on January 31 Place said there will be a host of prizes and raffles. “I also want to really thank all the sponsors,” he said adding that the main two are Belmont Hills and XL Capital along with AS Coopers & Sons who sponsor the Beat the Birthday Boy contest.

Place said: “This was a new addition to the tournament last year and it adds a lot of fun to the event.”

The contest is on the par three 17th hole at Belmont. Entry is $5 each for the $600 prize. The trick is to get inside Place’s ball on the green with the tee shot.