Despite a dogged display, this country's young tennis stars finished sixth in the North, Central American and the Caribbean Pre Qualifying Tennis Tournament in the Dominican Republic, going down in three sets to Guatemala 0-3 in a fifth/sixth-place play-off on Friday.
However, coach Larry Yearwood was satisfied with the performances of his lads in the high-level tournament, telling Guardian Media Sports that the programme implemented by the T&T Tennis Association- the National Junior Developmental Preparation Programme, will soon put this country's young players on par with their competitors around the world.
In the opening rubber, Jaylon Chapman squandered a first-set triumph 6-4 to Guatemala's Carlos Ramirez, and eventually miss out on the victory as the Guatemalan stormed back 6-1, 6-0.
And in the other encounter, T&T's Zachery Byng went down to a red-hot David Morales in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to virtually surrender the match in the singles matches.
Later T&T's attempt at a consolation win through Byng and Nathen Martin in the doubles match didn't bear any fruit either, as they were swept aside by Guatemala's pair of Morales and Ramirez 6-3, 6-0.
Yearwood, who has been working with the young players for the past few days said: "After Jaylon won the first set, he died in the second and third because of his match fitness. And Zachery went down early in the first set 5-0 because he was nervous. However, he rebounded to almost tie the match, but again, he could not maintain the level of high competition," Yearwood said.
He noted "It's like having wifi. Sometimes you have it strongly and other times the reception messes you up."
According to the T&T coach: "This is not so with those international competitors, and therefore, for us to compete at that level consistently, we must learn to maintain our intensity, fitness level and consistency, as there is no room for unforced errors. We must learn that rule number one in international tennis is to keep the ball in play."
Yearwood called on the tennis association being headed by businessman Hayden Mitchell to continue its development programme, and ensure that the young players continue to play against a high level of competition.