EDITH POWEL
Tennis & Sports Administration
Edith Powell has competed and excelled at every level in the sport of Tennis both as a player and administrator. As a player she has won multiple singles and doubles tournaments of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (1999 – 2002) and the Airlines World Tennis Club and most recently the IC International Tennis Club.
Edith has played basketball at the Catholic Priory Grounds and softball at the Haynes Oval fort Charlotte. Her mother Saphora Timothy Newbold was an avid member of the St. Bernard’s Sporting Club and she took Edith as a youngster to watch the St. Bernard Sporting Club play cricket. Edith later began the sport of tennis under the tutelage of Mr. Gerald Isaacs who was instrumental in helping her with the tennis.
Edith won several championships with Kendal Isaacs and Donald Archer and played against renowned players like Francis and Paul Adderley, George McKinney, Percy Munnings. This led the way for the Association to compete on the world stage and hence we gained membership in the International Tennis Federation.
Four tennis clubs were needed to officially form the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association and they included the Gym Tennis Club, The Lucayan Tennis Club and two non-tennis clubs which included the Western and the St. George’s Club. In order to be eligible to participate internationally.
During Edith’s presidency of The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association, The Bahamas was at its pinnacle having attained Zone 1 position in the Davis Cup and held that position for over three years.
The Gym Tennis Club then moved to Winton and during that period Edith became the President of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association and devoted my time mentoring the junior athletes who have gone on to Universities in the USA. Edith’s Presidency also saw the construction of the National Tennis Centre, with nine championship courts and a two story Club House.
Edith’s proudest achievement was a win with Donald Archer over Pancho Gonzales and Janet Leigh and a win over Billy Jean King and Larry King with Bradley Demerit as a partner. One of the most momentous occasions was in the company with Roger Federer and Martina Navratilova at the Wimbledon Ball, which was the ultimate for Edith.
She has travelled extensively to International Tennis Federation Conference and a lot of changes were made to the game of tennis. Also her travels took her to represent three Olympics as Manager of The Bahamas tennis team Sydney, Athens and Beijing.