BERMUDA tennis is growing by leaps and bounds ¿ so much so that the local calendar is getting incredibly full.

"We have so much going on in the sport here," said David Lambert who is now in his fourth term as president of the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association.

Lambert, who was urged to take over the BLTA again earlier this year for another two-year term, said he would only do so if he could reach his goal of getting more young Bermuda players college scholarships .

"And that has been happening. I don't know about other sports, but I would venture to say that we probably have as many players on college scholarships and in (tennis) academies as anyone."

Right now Bermuda has 11 players on college teams and academies and another three looking to be a sure bet to be offered a college scholarship in the coming year.

"We also have a number of players who are college graduates after being on a scholarship," said Lambert nodding to Zarah DeSilva, Quinton Burgess, Jenson Bascome, Danielle Paynter, James Collieson and his own daughter Tara.

Those who are currently on college scholarships or with academies include the Fisher triplets ¿ Sasha, Kara and Zoe ¿ along with Gavin Manders, David Thomas, Johnny Holland, Mckenzie Bean, Romar Douglas, Jevon Whitter, Tyler Smith and Na'Im Azar.

"And we have at least three players who I would say will get college scholarships next year," said Lambert. They are Ashley Brooks, Caitlin Gordon and Lambert's daughter Jacklyn.

Lambert was voted back into the BLTA's top job for the fourth time last January for the two-year period. "I am pleased to say that this is my fourth term. My first term was back in 1995 and no one has done more than one term. The reason why I came back was that all those people who have gone in after me resigned (after their term) and the board said 'David will you consider coming back'. And the reason I came back is because I have always enjoyed the support from all the sub committees, the coaches and players along with the Government and sponsors," said Lambert.

And he believes the BLTA is as strong as ever now. "One of the reasons why the BLTA is so strong now is that we have followed the structure that has been loaned to us by International Tennis Federation. It is called the Pyramid Development Programme and it starts right at the grass roots and goes up to the Fed and Davis Cup along with the college scholarship programme.

"It all starts with our schools programme where we have coaches going to the schools and working with the PE teachers. Because of our sponsor ACE and their financial support, we can hire additional coaches to assist when we need to.

"After the kids have been introduced to the sport in the schools they then enroll in other programmes throughout the island. The next stage of the pyramid are the local tournaments. This year we had eight junior tournaments and seven adult tournaments. Our calendar is loaded ¿ just packed. And we have just finished the calendar for the events in 2008 which will be even busier than this year."

For information of those tournaments the website is www.blta.bm and in an unusual twist for a local sport in Bermuda it is actually up to date!

"The next stage of this pyramid are those who represent Bermuda overseas. For our junior local tournaments the players get ranking points and that will tell us who will play for Bermuda in things like the Junior Fed and Davis Cup and the Under 13 (Caribbean tournament) as well as the Junior ITF Bank of Bermuda Foundation tournament which we hosted for the fifth time here last summer. After that is the Fed and Davis Cup tournaments and the college scholarships.

"This system works. We have taken that ITF Pyramid Development Programme and enhanced it a little bit to fit Bermuda. As a result we see the numbers are increasing ¿ it is exciting to see it working."

And at every level of that pyramid programme there is a sub committee.

"I delegate so many things. I could never do it by myself. We have a great team here. Our last board meeting of the year will be next week and that will be at least a two hour meeting to talk about how 2007 was and how we can build on it next year. All the chairs of the sub committees are on the board and every sub committee has a very important part to play in the development of the sport ¿ whether it is Junior Development, Winter League, Commercial League, the National Select Committee or the ITF Committee.

"To see how much things are growing we have been told by the ITF that our Bank of Bermuda Foundation tournament has become so big over five years that we will need additional courts."

And because more kids are playing, more adults are needed, said Lambert. "There are more adults now taking part behind the scenes. Every Sunday there are over 100 kids playing the Pepperidge Farm round-robin series at courts all over Bermuda. If you go to those courts you will see more parents helping out.

"We are also pleased that along with the tournaments that are growing we also are seeing more umpires coming out. We are having workshops for chair umpires not only for the XL tournament and ITF tournament but also for the our local tournaments. Because the competition is getting better you have to make sure the officiating is getting stronger."