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INTERVIEW William BRETON President Gwada Beach Tennis (by SGL / MGL)
Wednesday, 02 March 2016 12:45

INTERVIEW William BRETON President Gwada Beach Tennis (by SGL / MGL)

The 5th edition, a new challenge?

Every year it is more than a challenge, it is a bet. First of all, we are located on a small island; players need to cross the Atlantic Ocean to come over. Moreover, our partners are focused on main sports like football, bike or even the carnival, one of the biggest events here. We need to convince them that the Beach Tennis is more than a sport for Guadeloupe.
Then, the magic takes place. Our island is a paradise, which helps for sure. But we count more Beach Tennis players and fans every year.


New regulation: constraints and advantages?

Every sport needs to evolve. We need to think in a long-term perspective and to preserve this equilibrium between standard and professional level.

To my point of view, this new regulation did not change a lot. For instance, we host the best players for free for the past 3 years. We did not wait for a written rule.
However, I agreed on the 3 matches a day possibility because most of the players only have a few days to participate.

Nevertheless, I am worried that we will end up like Tennis, with all this conformity and rigidity. I fear that we cannot play music anymore; uniforms are imposed; no more animations; the central court could be for the exclusive use of players.

The Beach Tennis can only grow up with all its specificities. New rules must take everything into account and must be decided by real and experienced players, the ones who are coming back home full of sand…


What is new this year?

For new members, those who never came before, there will always be something new. The Carnival group will be here again and players can dance with them. We should be able to launch our Happy Colour and other surprises for the youngest.
For those who are interested, we can offer an island tour.
More convenient, we should offer the wifi on site. And this year, we are able to close the tournament with a big party.


How many players are you expecting?

Every year, this tournament attracts a lot of players, from Guadeloupe of course but also from the Caribbean (Martinique, St Marteen, St Barthelemy, Porto Rico). Because of the successful previous edition, we count now more and more foreigners. More than 10 nationalities will be on the sand in march!


Increasing development: Dream or reality?

The reality is that we are not dreaming! The Beach Tennis is successful, even though some institutions are not making any efforts.
This sport is successful because it is less noble than its big brother, the Tennis. Less wise and more rebel so more surprising and more emotional.
On the other hand, it might be not be noble enough; we are not making enough money out of it. Because the sad reality is that people look for profit, they do not look for the dream. Anyhow, we need to be patient, if the Beach Tennis can grow up without politics it means it is growing up with true values.

I would also like to point that the only data we can have regarding the increase of the development is the number of tournaments that are organised every year, which is going up.

In Guadeloupe, the Beach Tennis boom happened a few years ago. The number of players remains stable today. Because of our big tournament, the Big Tennis is now a sport of renown (almost everyone here knows the difference between Beach Volley and Beach Tennis).

Players want to make their passion a living and want to be in the best conditions in order to reach their personal and financial objectives.
Events must attract more and more people so this sport can become even more famous. Us, the organisation must create the dream and once everyone is happy we are happy.


What is necessary to the development?

In Guadeloupe, everything is reunited for at least a great regional development. Here, the sun is shinning all year long; there are beaches, young and sportive population.
We are just missing human resources able to dive into the Beach Tennis challenge. We are also missing leaders to spread the message and we need to convince Tennis clubs to start teaching the Beach Tennis too.

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