Ghent residents, Chassidy King and Keishora Armstrong
defeated fellow teammates Molly Goodman and Mitali Das in straight sets in Schenectady to earn the 1 spot as the Section II girl’s high school tennis champions. The Emma Willard juniors will represent the section at the NYS high school championship being held in Syracuse this weekend.
King and Armstrong moved to Columbia County earlier this year from Antigua along with their coach, mentor and Keishora’s dad Eli Armstrong.
“Coach Eli” a College of Saint Rose graduate returned to the area from Antigua where he ran the Armstrong Tennis Academy for over 25 years. He started the academy on the Caribbean island to help break the cycle of poverty for the island’s young people by using tennis as a means to help improve their chances of getting a college education.
Due to the current recession, the ATA lost it’s funding and Eli moved north to The Old Chatham Tennis Club where along with recently retired Saint Rose tennis coach Jeff Bloomberg started The Old Chatham Tennis Academy that both Keishora and Chassidy now attend. It was at the Old Chatham Tennis Club that Judith Curry, the head coach at Emma Willard, was teaching there last spring and noticed King and Armstrong and made it possible for them to attend Emma Willard.
The duo played #2 & 3 singles respectively during the regular season and had a combined record of 18-0 They were paired as a doubles team for the Section II championships and seeded #1. In the championships the team went undefeated posting a 6-0 record, winning a total of 66 games while losing only 7.
The girls are happy to be here and glad for the opportunity to attend high school in the U. S.. When asked if they were ready to go back to Antigua after the recent snow storm they both simultaneously answered “no”!
(Source http://www.caribarena.com/antigua/sport/more-sports/98856-local-tennis-duo-storm-ny.html)
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