02-07-2025
I went to Barbados for cricket but fell in love with a sport I'd never heard of
Winding through rush-hour traffic in Bridgetown, our driver points to some markings scratched into the surface of a quiet side street.
'That's an old road tennis court,' he says of the faded lines, partially hidden under the wheels of a parked car.
We are on our way from the Kensington Oval, where the West Indies have just posted a productive day's work against Australia, to the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium, a sprawling multi-sports complex located south of Barbados's capital city, to see a modern version of this indigenous sport.
As we drive into the complex, named after the Barbadian-born cricket legend, we pass the Barbados Aquatic Centre, the Football Association and Olympic HQs.
Eventually we arrive at a row of courts, all of similar dimensions to the one crudely scrawled into the Bridgetown tarmac - 21x10 feet. However, these are marked with straight lines, they are immaculately painted and maintained, and have a solid divider, a 'net', rising eight inches above the ground, bisecting each court.
On one, a group of teens play volleyball. They're handy enough, but it's easy to spike the ball when the net is less than a foot tall. Next to them, two locals are deep into a game of road tennis and the shots are played with a mix of power and finesse. It's hard-court tennis meets table tennis, with most of the action at ankle height.
There is a clear hierarchy here. Whenever the volleyball bounces onto the neighbouring court, one of the youngsters will race over apologetically to retrieve it. Whenever the de-fuzzed tennis ball lands between the teens, they stop their game to ensure its safe return.
The sport has been passed down from generation to generation and is still played on most residential streets, on crudely drawn courts by folk of all ages and abilities.
According to 'Road Tennis was born from the passion of impoverished communities to play a sport that mirrored lawn tennis or table tennis. In the early years, lawn tennis was not affordable for most Barbadians, and so resourceful Bajans created something of their own.'
Back to the Gymnasium and one contestant steps out to allow the next in line a turn, in a winner-stays-on format. He is asked by Fitter Happier for a lowdown on the sport. It turns out that Kerry Harewood is the maintenance officer with the Barbados National Sports Council, and that one of his duties is to oversee a team that travels the island marking out and painting road tennis courts.
He tells us: 'I grew up seeing the older gentlemen playing road tennis. Before it got to this stage, with the painted court, it was basically an outline on the road. I started on the road at home with rough markings. We used to use rocks to mark out the lines.'
Serves, as in table tennis, must bounce on the server's side first, before clearing the net and bouncing in the opponent's half.
'It's like table-tennis, but on the ground,' Harewood continues. 'The points are the same too - you have five points to serve and then the opponent serves for five points, and you go to 21.
'The net is eight inches off the ground and the racket is roughly the same - eight inches in diameter.
'Before (the size) was regularised, guys used to come out with rackets maybe 12 inches wide and all different types of shapes. Now it doesn't have to be circular in shape, but it has to fit into a regulation square. If it fits, then it's legal.'
Once a casual street game - its history draws parallels with road bowling in Ireland - there are now tournaments with decent cash prizes.
'It started as a little bit of fun, a Bajan sport, some exercise to get fit,' says Harewood. 'But now there is some money in it. You could win $5,000 (€2,100) or $10,000 (€4,200), or more.
'We have the BRTA, the Barbados Road Tennis Association. There was a tour to Dubai, a couple of tours where some of our veterans and young guys have gone to promote the sport.'
The highlight of our trip to the Caribbean is supposed to be the day at the Windies-Australia test, but a late decision to make a detour and find some road tennis action turns that on its head as we are handed a wooden racket and given an opportunity to see for ourselves why this sport is so popular across Barbados.
Our opponent, who had been showcasing an array of dizzying spin shots and fearsome smashes, takes it handy as we knock the ball back and forth.
We are not the first travelling writer to fall in love with the sport of road tennis, as evidenced by this piece from 2019, profiling the country's top star Mark 'Venom' Griffith. It's well worth a few minutes of your day and captures the sport in its rawest form.
And that's how Harewood began playing the game, on the road outside his childhood home. He recalls how the slope meant that for one competitor there would often be a long chase to retrieve a wayward shot or a well-struck smash.
From those humble beginnings, he says: 'I would love the sport to grow internationally.
'You have got a lot of youngsters, both male and female, playing road tennis. There are a lot of tournaments taking place around Barbados.
'Sometimes you see tourists passing a game and coming over and asking, what's this called?
'Some of them take pictures, sit down and watch, or even get involved. They ask for a racket so they can try it themselves.
'I would love for road tennis to become an international sport, because it could give youngsters here opportunities, something to strive for, and it would put Barbados more on the map.'
# Mark McCadden was invited to Barbados by the BTMI (Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc) to sample some of the country's cultural and sporting highlights.
