Tennis coach Desmond Brown close to quitting after 40 years - ‘Mi nah get no help,’ says Ocho Rios icon

After 40 years, Ocho Rios-based tennis coach Desmond Brown is eyeing retirement because of lack of support.

Brown has spent four decades coaching youngsters in Ocho Rios but now there is no sponsorship to continue the programme.

But if Judie O'Sullivan, a "God-sent woman", has her way, things would be put in place to encourage Brown to remain.

"We don't want Coach Brown to leave because he has such a talent that he can impart to the youngsters, and if youngsters are engaged they won't get into crime and violence," O'Sullivan said in an interview with STAR Sports.

The players who have been coached by Brown are like a who's who in Jamaican tennis and include Tinesta Rowe, Elvis Henry, Tyrone Trail, Maurice Trail, Nicholas Malcolm, Calvin Sullivan, Justin Brown, Johnny Rosetta, Norman Black, Gary Henry, Kyle Dwyer, Sylvester Black, among others.

Sylvester Black has since gone on to make a name for himself while coaching in the United States. He was the first coach of now 17-year-old American player Cori 'Coco' Gauff, currently the youngest player in the WTA top 100, and a former coach of 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens. Malcolm was a talented left-hander who played Davis Cup tennis for Jamaica in the 1990s. In 2012, Rowe won the NCB Capital Markets Open Tennis Championship at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.

"It's so many of them, I can't even remember. Some are in Germany, some in Dubai, all over the place," Brown told STAR Sports while looking back at some of the players he has coached over the years.

Despite the success of his former students, Brown is disheartened at how events are unfolding as he tries to keep his tennis camp operating at Mystic Ridge in Ocho Rios.

Very poor surfaces mark the two tennis courts, although there are plans to fix them. Most important, though, is the lack of financial support to ensure that the programme, currently with 25 youngsters, can continue.

"I'm not getting paid, mi nuh get pay from nobody but mi dweet from mi heart; mi a teach this tennis thing yah from mi heart," Brown told STAR Sports.

He said sometimes parents, who can afford to, pay some money but that usually goes back into the programme.

"All these kids are poor kids, they don't pay me but still I'm here just to help them. Thanks to the Mystic Ridge people who helped me out, I can come and teach these kids every week. This is my last year because mi nah get no help; nobody nah help me away from one person," Brown revealed.

That one person is Judie O'Sullivan, who started playing tennis two years ago and having seen the need, stepped in to help in whatever way she can.

"Getting into the training and stuff, I meet the kids and I listened to the needs and I heard what the needs are and I really try to satisfy," Sullivan said.

Despite the needs of the programme, the children are still turning up for training and are still hopeful that tennis can provide a brighter future for them.

Sixteen-year-old Simon Neary, a grade 11 student of Iona High School, has been with the programme for 10 years now and feels he's an accomplished teen player. He wants to play professional then turn to coaching, like his uncles Roland Burrell and Atton Burrell, who are coaching in Canada.

According to Neary: "It has opened up a lot of doors for me, opportunities such as it being easier to go overseas from the sport. You meet a lot of people who have a lot of connections who can make life easier. Coach Brown has helped me and built my game to the level that I'm at today."

He is scheduled to go to Canada this year as part of his training schedule.

Nathan Williamson, 13, of St Mary Hgh School, has been with the programme for less than two years and is in love with the game.

"Hopefully, in the future it gives me a lot of opportunities to play overseas to better my life. I love tennis, tennis is a sport that I want to play for the rest of my life," he said.

Romario Parkes, 12, has been playing for six years and also wants to go professional.

"I want to go professional because I want to make my country proud and my coach proud; and I want my family to be proud of me also," Parkes said.