ITF

GUATEMALA Under president Tulio Davila, Guatemala is a nation with a strong administration which benefits from governmental support. I would go further and say the government pushes the national sports federations to perform, which is very positive for tennis. The focus in Guatemala is for tennis to work well at all levels: there is a focus on producing and promoting high- performance players but developing the base remains a priority. There is also strong emphasis upon developing sport and tennis throughout the country. This can be traced back more than a decade to when the Guatemalan government encouraged national federations to widen their sphere of influence. From there, Federacion National de Tenis de Guatemala underwent a programme of decentralisation, which began in 2007 under then- president Diego Pulido and saw numerous associations created across the nation. Initially, these were in San Marcos, Totonicapán, Quetzaltenango, Jalapa, Escuintla and Izabal y Zacapa. This policy continued and has progressed. The 2020 JTI data showed that the top-ranked players in three of the four age-group categories were not from the capital, Guatemala City, as has often been the case, but from more rural communities. Ronaldo Cotom from Suchitepequez, Alison Oliva of Escuintla and Carlos Ramirez from Retalhuleu were the best-performing players in the under-12 boys', under-12 girls' and under-14 boys' age groups respectively. During 2020, 2,757 kids participated in the JTI, while since 2013 more than 30 players from Guatemala have attained an ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors ranking having been introduced to tennis through the JTI. In essence, Guatemala is a very solid nation in terms of development and they always look for ways to improve. The national association supports the country's top players, while the government backing they receive is crucial. " 38 Spring 2021 ITF World EL SALVADOR The president of Federacion Salvadorena de Tenis is Rafael Arevalo, who in 2008 became the first player to represent El Salvador in tennis competition at the Olympic Games, which had a hugely positive impact on the whole sporting landscape of the country. Since becoming president of the national association, Rafael has put a lot of work into developing the JTI in El Salvador and the programme was progressing well until the Covid-19 pandemic. The national association has established a partnership with the national sports institute of El Salvador and there were around 70,000 kids in schools playing tennis, with competitions leading to a national event at the National Training Centre in Santa Tecla. Participation was increasing massively and the JTI was the national association's development strength, but it has been really hurt by the pandemic and the schools not being active. It is very difficult. There have been some coaches' education courses for deliverers within private clubs but the JTI is the focus of Federacion Salvadorena de Tenis and until the Covid situation improves, the initiative is effectively on hold. Going forward, the national association is focused on hosting more junior events, both nationally and internationally. This will take advantage of the country's National Training Centre and the nine hard courts they have there. El Salvador, who boast top 50 doubles player Marcelo Arevalo – Rafael's brother – among their ranks of professional players, has a very strong team of administrators and officials which supports their successful hosting of events. " Rafael Arevalo is the President of Federacion Salvadorena de Tenis " " Guatemala's development work is impressive R E A D M O R E

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