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Join hosts Anastarcia Palacious and Renaldo Dorsett as they sit down with the people who shape Baha Mar: the chefs, the artists, the visionaries, and the guests to uncover the moments, the culture, and the quiet details that turn a destination into something unforgettable.
Because the real story of Baha Mar isn't in the brochure. It's in the people who live it!
Derron: The vision behind McEnroe being a part of this is John McEnroe was number one in singles and number one in doubles
Renaldo: Welcome to Beyond The Stay at the studio here at Baha Mar, where we bring you the stories and the people behind what makes Baha Mar such a great destination and one of the most sought-after destinations in the world. I'm your host, Renaldo Dorsett, and we've been bringing you a lot of stories this season.
We're gonna stick with our sports theme. Like we said, there are so many reasons to be here. You got the cuisine, you got the entertainment, the nightlife. We're talking sports, and we're talking one of the many reasons to be here, and that's rackets. So joining me on this very special episode, we got the director of rackets, Derron Donaldson.
First of all, amazing title, Director Of Rackets. You had to love it when they first brought it to you.
Derron: Definitely. It's new. Usually you have dir- uh, director of tennis, which was the leading sport around the world in rackets for a very long time, and you now combine them all. And as we get into the show, I'm sure we'll touch on what's so special about the rackets program here at Baha Mar.
Renaldo: Before we get into any of that, I wanna hear about your story, your sports background. What got you into this? Was it playing it? And then eventually, what got you shifted towards more of the administration aspect?
Derron: Basically started playing tennis very young, uh, at four off and on. My mother put me in something after school.
You know, give the kid something to do after school. My dad was a big golfer, and the true story is he was really good at golf, and still is if you hear me say really good. Still is. I was
Renaldo: about to say .
Derron: He still is, um, really good at golf. And I was doing the golf program, and you know the whole situation, father/son or parent and child in the sport that their parent grew up teaching.
I was annoyed with him trying to tell me, "Do it this way," and, "Do it that way." So I insisted that I'm gonna go and play tennis, and he had one rule. He says, "When you win your first trophy, I'll come and support your tennis journey." So I worked very... In the more natural at golf. Thank God for him teaching me, and I still can go out there and enj- enjoy Royal Blue, um, here at Baha Mar.
But I won the first trophy, he supported me. I started teaching at the age of 16 in Grand Bahama, so that's where I'm from. And I taught my sister because my mother also had a philosophy, "I paid for coaching for you. In between your tournaments and matches, you're gonna coach your little sister." That's
Renaldo: what dad said-
Derron: So you're passing their philosophy?
Correct. So her thing was, "You're gonna teach your sister 'cause I'm not paying for her to learn." So I started teaching at 16, did a summer camp for the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture on the Moon Maxi Park in Grand Bahama. Um, was kinda left alone, um, to do it at 16. Moon kind of sent a coordinator out there, and I remember the Freeport News sports reporter, um, did a whole thing on me for showing up one time as a 16-year-old managing the kids and, you know.
And I remember Moon says, "Okay, Dave established you as a coach." And the rest is kinda history. Um, continued, not that big of a player, was okay. So much talent here. Grand Bahama had, I would say, the best among the rackit, yes. Nasauvians, I'm saying that.
Renaldo: Of course, every Grand Bahamian says this.
Derron: Correct.
Renaldo: Not saying y'all wrong.
I'm just saying it's always a talking point.
Derron: But went into coaching, like I said, at 16, and then went on The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association board at the age of 18, and council member, and then worked my way up to the board and became president at 23.
Renaldo: Let's put a pin in that because that is not something that's typical for someone at that young of an age to say, "I'm going to go from on the court, the playing and the coaching, to let me get behind the scenes at that administrative level."
What brought about that change for you? What made you see that there was something needed, that, a void that you needed fill?
Derron: So to be honest, and again, I'll take a shot at myself, I realized, boy, you ain't gon' make it to Wimbledon and you, you getting beat up over here a little bit from these guys here. So I kinda went into coaching 'cause I was like, "Okay, I need to make some money."
And again, my mother reinforcing that, "I'm not paying for your sister to learn." Then the administration, I knew that's where kind of the money, kinda... What I mean by money, that's where the real money is. That's where the action is, the people that prepare the stage for athletes, the people that prepare the events so coaches have athletes to coach to go to an event.
So I understood that, and I felt that if I got involved and helped with the administration, it may help more players, it may help more coaches. And then I also learned the backend of running tournaments and events, et cetera. And shout out to the National Tennis Center. That's where I kinda learned to run events and do what I'm doing today
Renaldo: That's something I think people either don't see or they don't appreciate enough, right?
What goes into all of these things behind the scenes because we see the athletes on front stage and we celebrate when these things happen but we don't see the work that it takes behind the scenes and you got first-hand viewing of that very early on
Derron: Sports is very diverse even given your role um and what is journalism Yeah And all of that Right and which you do Even interviewing me here Sports is very diverse You have sports reporters sports doctors physios All of this is an engine that you see builds a Mark Knowles Builds a Roger Smith Just naming a few from my sport Builds a Shaunie Miller Builds a Buddy All of this is the management that goes behind it We're a small country But very powerful on the world stage Um A lot of it is based off the talent Because as a small country we do lack some resources compared to the you know The big countries
Renaldo: So let's talk about you becoming a part of the administration at that very young age and becoming president at 23.
Tennis is the f- sport that you first fell in love with when we talk about all the racket sports, so tennis is the one that brought you here. What was a standout moment for you as a young president?
Derron: Boy, usually you, you come in and you're trying to pick up from where probably the last administration may have left something or what you can do better.
But immediately when I came in, we were under debt of probably $200,000 with regards to a WTA that probably went wrong, and I inherited it. So I spent my first year trying to negotiate with the International Tennis Federation from us not being suspended and trying to recoup this money, negotiating with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to help bail us out to protect tennis so we can still travel and play in the world events, et cetera.
So that was one of the big accomplishments, but also something just teach me how to liaise with international and deal... I had ESPN call me. I've had, um, t- I had, because we had coaches that were not ... Not coaches. We had referees that came down to officiate this game not being paid, and all of that kinda fell on the association at that time.
And at the same time, we had a death of a past president, and reestablished the end of year senior nationals, which picks a team for the Davis Cup named in the honor of Giorgio Baldacci. So I was able to name that tournament, as well as establish more events and just keep positive news going and a lot of PR.
So that taught me PR as well, because I had to keep the spin on we're not getting suspended. Yes. We're not… And just what are we doing positively in the organization.
Renaldo: So people need to understand all of this because I want them to get your tennis bona fides so they understand why you became director of rackets here.
So let's go from you're making all of these strides in tennis. You're becoming this, uh, you know, I don't wanna say a star in th- on the Tennessean, but the president of federations and associations sometimes kinda are forced into that star and leadership role. Then you head into The Bahamas Olympic Committee.
So tell us about that journey and what all that entails.
Derron: At the same time, I was on the-- Was a private live-in coach in Lifer Cay for a private family. They had a tennis court in their yard, and I would travel with their daughter to tournaments. So I still was actively coaching, doing the association, um, chairman of the National Tennis Center, so a facility that I was automatically in charge of based on me being president of the BLTA.
So that's where facility knowledge comes in, hence again, the racket sports facility we have here at Baha Mar, the John MacEnroe Tennis Center. And then from there, the Olympic committee, which now is all sports So I remember, again, my dad telling me, "Son, you're- you're in charge of the... You're- you're on the Olympic committee now, so you have to start thinking not just tennis, not just rackets.
You gotta be able to answer a volleyball question, a basketball question, 'cause the reporters can ask you that." So I started to look at sports holistically and understand the difference of their developments, the different costs of them, so budgets. So all of that, and again, I was on my path, was at the Lyford Cay Club, s- worked my way up as a jun- as a junior pro, uh, junior coordinator, head pro, and all of this was kinda going on.
And so in sports we say cross-training. All of this was going on while I was on that board. So I was working my way up in my personal career, and remember, this board is voluntary. And working- It's
Renaldo: been in a lot of places at once. We c- Correct ... we can hear it.
Derron: Correct. And working as a tennis pro, and you're not director of rackets where you kind of that security maybe in your salary and the benefits.
You're working as a commission-based person, so it was a lot of yin and yangs. I'm getting married at 23 as well.
Renaldo: You was doing a lot, man.
Derron: Correct. So my, so- Doing a lot ... so I'm a bit tired now maybe, but I, I cannot say that loud here 'cause, you know, Bahamar has a, I guess an expectation on me to perform. But- Hey,
Renaldo: everyone's listening .But- Just an FYI
Derron: for 23, yeah, I got married at 23 in February, and twenty f-... And April 15th I was the new president. So my wife kinda said ... We got married and we had a month and a half together, and then I felt like she kinda left me. Um, so it was juggling personal life as well, which has all prepared me, to your point, for the role that I'm currently in now.
Renaldo: And let's get to that role. When you first heard You were tapped for this position. You- Baha Mar says, "Hey, we want you to become director of rackets." Take us to that moment. What was your first thought?
Derron: At first I was like, "Hmm," three racket sports because they had Padel on the rising to be built 'cause the courts are just under a year.
Or no, actually probably a year old now for Padel. Um, and I'm like, okay, three. Hmm. And I was a little curious because I was, again, at my other job which is private members club, and it's comfortable. And this one would have kind of been out the box. Baha Mar is the mix of very international guests from all over the world as well as the local fraction.
Again, secluded their members global. But given the Olympic Committee, the BLTA, all of that coming together, I was like, "Okay, let's try it." And then I started to imagine what we could show locals as well as international guests the benefits of racquet sports, the health and wellness component, the, the mental capacity, the building of the character, the bridging the world through racquet sports with the international guest as well as the Bahamian locals.
Renaldo: So this is our first episode of Beyond The Stay where we have actual props. So we're gonna get into the props. Because- ... tennis is the sport that brought you into this, but like you said, your background in the BOC kinda gave you, I guess, the credibility to say, "I can take on all sports." So you kinda have to do that here as Director of Rackets.
You gotta take on tennis, you gotta take on pickleball, and biggest question in the community, Padel or padel? What's the pronunciation?
Derron: It's Padel, but you know how we get sometimes in our culture. Depending on who we're speaking to or who we're around, we will say padel. Oh . But it's Padel.
Renaldo: Okay. So as Director of Racquets, on a day-to-day basis you are responsible for all three of these.
What does that look like
Derron: It's really, it's actually really fun and, and recently I would have come up with a concept with the team of when we're gonna launch it in fall racket hopping to again bring that experience to the Bahamian public as well as to our guests when they come here. It can be a family or a dinner event.
So they're all different but they're all racket sports so you have the tennis racket here which most persons even if they've never played they've seen a tennis racket- ... They know what it looks like And then of course pickle which is the big seller worldwide and its ... The reason why Pickle is actually this is Pickle paddle by the way everyone.
The reason why pickle it's very catchy, it's easy You and I , I know you have a sports background But you and I If you've never touched it We can jump- This
Renaldo: is kind difficult All of this Is difficult for me I don't assume I can play everything You
Derron: can jump on the pickleball court right now With some friends and family who've Never played any racquet sport And you can have some sort Of success You may not get the scoring right You may go in something we call 'the kitchen,' but you can get out there and have fun if you're on vacation and just wanna do somethin' different Right?
And then of course This is our luxury ticket item That Bahamas Now brought To the Bahamian Public Because usually Most Padel courts Are at your private members club Here on island Or behind A gated community Or someone's Private home Everyone has access 'cause you don't see these around the ... And no hit at the local community or the government, you don't see these around parks- Yeah
the Padel court with the glass en- enclosed engage, and they kinda use a similar ball, a less compression ball, lower, lower compression for Padel as well, similar to tennis. And the, the fun fact about Padel is if you've played squash, it's kinda you're playing off the glass, and so it's similar scoring to tennis.
You're playing off the glass. And with racket hopping, which we're gonna launch in fall, you get an hour and a half or a 90-minute session with a pro going over the three sports even if you've never played tennis, which is the more technical sport. What we're doing for the kids, and adults can do this, with our Baha Mar Foundation, we're introducing these balls.
So this is the red ball, which is the first stage that anyone including you, if you've never played there- I'm gonna, I wanna try all of this by the way ... you can use re- you can use the red ball and you'll have success right away.
Renaldo: That's, that's beginner level?
Derron: This is the very first beginning
Renaldo: level. All
Derron: right.
I'm, I'm going beginner level. And then you have the orange dot ball, which means you're s- you're getting there. So again, you see the size of the ball. It's getting, uh, closer. Then you get- And
Renaldo: a
Derron: different consistency as
Renaldo: well? Correct. Okay.
Derron: And then you get the green dot ball, which is very similar to the regular tennis ball, and so green is the final stage of your progression before you get to the real tennis ball.
Then
Renaldo: you're ready for a regular one. Okay.
Derron: Every other sport ma-, um, gives some kind of mini golf, lower basketball rims, um, T-ball, but tennis was the only sport in history that kinda made you play full court, big rackets, lotta injuries for little kids. I never thought about it
Renaldo: that
Derron: way. Yeah. Yeah, if you look at it, other sports made the adjustment to allow little kids or beginners to have success right away.
And the thing with sports and anyone that's competitive, you ... And you wanna sell the sport, you gotta make people feel that they're getting it right from the first try. If you're going out there and the ball's bouncing high over your head, no control, you can't hit with your friend, it's a waste of your time, right?
You're gonna be like, "I don't, I don't need to do this."
Renaldo: After the Golf Invitational, the Baha Mar Golf Invitational, I took on the challenge. I said I'm gonna work at it, and I'm gonna try to play next year. Uh, you laugh because yes, that is wh- that is what you should do when a beginner says he's gonna take on golf, right?
No laughs. I'm gonna do the same thing with this, so I am going to be at Rocket Hopping, so I want to hear more about this.
Derron: So say you're gonna get invited to Racquet Hopping. So we're still working out the tweaks to it, but I'm thinking of creating a, a, a racquet hopping passport. So you complete the tennis, half an hour of whatever, and, and it's basically a I guess they have taste of Baha Mar, a taste of SLS.
It'll be a taste of the racket club, racket hopping too. You start off with tennis. We go over the rules of that. We probably, if it's a beginner group, we definitely come out with- Yeah ...the beginner balls. That's, that's me. We will do some drills. We'll go over the rules and scoring of tennis within that half an hour, play a game, and then we'll stamp your passport to say, "Okay, you've completed tennis."
And then you're gonna move to pickleball, and again, we'll go over what The Kitchen is 'cause people, people like The Kitchen. Kitchen, Pickle-
Renaldo: Well when you at Baha Mar and you hear The Kitchen- Kitchen you think of- You
Derron: only think of one thing Exactly, the actual kitchen- To go and cook something right? With, with Taven.
But you'll do pickleball, and we'll go over the rules of pickleball, the different scorin', blam, and if y- once you complete that, play a game, we stomp your passport, and then we will go to paddle, and we'll go over that, and we'll try and do games to see in that half an hour, we go over the rules who can hit off the glass, who can have success, and we'll do games and drills with that.
And you'll have a pro, like a tour guide taking you through. So it's almost like a whole little experience we wanna sell it as. And then families can do it, private groups can do it. And that's for you, for someone, a novice that is staying at the hotel, let me try this racket experience. And the unique thing about Baha Mar is we have all three right in one spot.
You don't have to go here and then go to another resort or goes ... We have, uh, the three racket sports right here at your disposal.
Renaldo: Like we say, tennis is the main draw. If you're a tennis player, you play that on vacation no matter where you go. You're always looking for a court. One half of the Ten YS duo has taught me this.
Whenever we travel and we go on assignments he's gotta find- Yep ...a court to go play. What has made pickleball stand out to have this meteoric rise culturally? Because now everyone's just consumed with pickleball talking about it. What's the difference that has cast a wider net, brought more people into it?
Derron: Tennis would be more technical, more, more movement, more, more of a challenge. And again, that's why those balls came into tennis. However, it's still tactical Pickleball is very social, tennis is as well. Pickleball is you can walk out there right now like I said and we can go then we could take the crew out there as well who's in here-
and they'll all have success of pickleball. You can do it with the elderly, the young, the in between, and it's a whole fun -- And it's, it's just addictive. It's quick. The court is smaller so less movement even though the picklers if they hear me they would be like, "That's a s- We work hard too and we're sweating."
But- Yeah. I was
Renaldo: about to say don't make them think that you trying to diminish it.
Derron: No, it's very competitive. We had an exciting July Fourth event. We had a mix of hotel guests local events. We gave out some hotel rooms. We gave off as prizes some cash prices. We gave out dinner for two on all of that here at the resort.
And it was well attended. We had about 32 participants uh, and we had some sponsors onboard and so it wa- it was very social. Pickle is very social, very like I said very catchy. And today I can say let's go play pickleball and you will have success.
Renaldo: So in terms of the guess over the past few months would you say that pickleball has been the one that people have sort of gravitated to in terms of I'm staying at a resort?
The first thing I wanna do if I want to step on the court, will they gravitate towards pickleball first?
Derron: Yeah automatically, and then they see, they see it going on. We have six pickleball courts here So it's a lot of space for people to jump on and we get a lot of requests. We have people that tailor their vacation around okay you have pickleball courts good were coming because thats part of our day before we goto the water park or before we got o dinner where gonna play and then were going to dinner and its ,and they come wit som-,some of them They come with their pickle paddle Sometimes we don't want them to come with that because, you know, we wanna rent them a paddle, but they, they, they really support it, they love it and it's something that they can do with their kids, with their, their older parents if they want.
And yeah
Renaldo: Tell us what that looks like day-to-day at the facility because there is... There's so much going on, there's a lot of activity. Let us know about the courts that are available just if I'm a guest here or if I'm, if I'm a local, because locals have access to this as well. Tell us what it looks like day-to-day.
Derron: So day-to-day, you walk in in the morning, you would see the pickleball courts going with hotel guests, of course through the week because, you know, our locals are most of them probably all at, at work not on vacation from there let's say 8:00 to like 10:00 definitely hotel guests, and I say till 10:00 because now the waterpark takes my-- takes some of my guests away 'cause I think the waterpark opens at 10:00.
Um, but they're out there and then you'll have some, some real diehard ones that wanna get a workout that's not gonna go to the water park, and they're playing in the heat at around 11:00 o'clock. Then you have... And tennis again. We have our tennis clinics in the morning. We have a Pickle clinic. So persons that they can jump into Pickle clinic, get a session, get some pointers from our pros here, as well as you'll see Paddle going in the morning as well.
And again, that's before the ten o'clock mark. Weekends, locals and hotel guests then intertwine. And then we also have something where we have the hotel guests that coming down and say, "Listen, I wanna play but I don't have anyone really to play with." So we also offer pairing up with locals or pairing up with regular for the hotel guests.
So we offer that service as well.
Renaldo: Well tell us about your facility having a name like John McEnroe attached to it obviously brings a different level of credibility. Just tell us about what, what brought that relationship on and how that has changed things here uh, at Baha Mar?
Derron: In everything um, I guess Baha Mar is trending What they're doing They want world class, they want number one and or sorry not they, we want number one.
The vision behind McEnroe being a part of this is John McEnroe was number one in singles and number one in doubles. I mean he's a household worldwide household name in tennis He has the respect He still actively um, moderating and commentating on many of the championships worldwide, Grand Slams and just having him come here he's so respected and he- He comes down at least twice a year interacts.
He loves the kids plays golf s-, Plays golf as well but we're not um, um talking about Royal Blue today But he loves the kids. He loves to do clinics And then he is a big part of our foundation at the end of z- the year with The Bahamar Cup So having him involved persons come down here and say Oh I was at John's academy in this city in the US or here I met John here Or r- We wanna come and play here because you have John McEnroe name so your pros must be really great So it brings that level of credibility like you say That support of the international weight and the facility that Bahama offers world class
Renaldo: You mentioned The Bahamar Cup ,and I think you can see that you've kinda made your mark already in your short time that you've, you've had this position Because there's so much activity and there are so many things going on Tell us about some of the landmark events that you've had already here at the resort
Derron: I'm gonna start at The Bahamar Cup
I didn't of course start that I met that here, and I'm just trying to help grow it Um, but with The Bahamar Cup last year we were able to sign an MOU with the Ministry of Education To start a pilot program to put these little rackets And these red balls in five public schools here in the country, and also just show persons when they donate to the Baha Mar Foundation, this is where your money's going, to put rackets in kids' hands and expose racket sport to kids.
And you just never know what can ha- come out of it. They may gravitate to it. So Baha Mar feels that we should give these kids a chance to experience, even if people may have an elite stigma on racket sports, that we are doing our part in the community, and I think that's a big part of what sells the Baha Mar Cup and why people donate to it, and we encourage people to continue to donate to it.
So definitely I brought that last year, that agreement in place, and it's going good 'cause we have a certification coming up for the teachers and course before school starts again at the end of the month. We're gonna get all the public schoolteachers here at Baha Mar, give them a course in it, give them a certificate just so they can feel confident in their PE classes doing this in schools.
We've started to do signature curated events. We had, um, EV Motors here twice already, where we're having a car tournament, so I guess never seen before, um, where we're giving out cars for a tennis tournament. So that gravitated and brought a lot of the local top players out, even international players from away.
And we've had it last year October, and we've had it in April past where it was so good they brought it back quickly, and then we're having it again this October. We do bachelorette curated special pickle events, paddle events, tennis events, birthday events. We have a real estate event coming up. I don't wanna call the real estate name to prompt them before they advertise it, but they want to do a open...
So we're becoming the local premiere, local and international premiere hosting spot for events, and I think that's what I've brought to the table, more events, more camps. We did a camp this summer as well, where we did a kind of more all-racket sport camp for the kids And we did just a tennis camp. And again, where can you send your kids where they can try out all three racket sports at the same time and pick which one they kinda gravitated to?
Independence event, Christmas events. We've had those where we had a Christmas morning pickleball round robin, and surprisingly I was shocked. People came out, they got champagne, and they had some Christmas music going on. My kids were not too happy because they're like, "We need to open our gifts. Why are you going to work?"
But we had a lot of people sign up for a Christmas round-robin tournament that was about two and a half hours. We gave out some John McEnroe, um, logo medals and all of that. So definitely curating events is a big part of why I'm here, and just that experience to The Bahamian public and our international guests.
Renaldo: I wanna dive a little deeper into the work that The Bahamas Foundation is doing in helping to eliminate that stigma of, you know, this being an elitist sport, because getting into the public schools is a big part of it. Are there any, I guess, immediate plans or plans fu- in the future down the line to even do more with that?
Because the more people that we have playing tennis, the more likely you have somebody that are gonna get to these higher heights. I know you came up in a time when tennis was probably in its golden era in The Bahamas. I mean– Yeah,
Derron: you couldn't win.
Renaldo: Yeah. It was ... I, I mean, people au- automatically think of Mark Knowles and Roger Smith, but the talent pool was so deep then.
And the only way to get back to that is to have as much people play as possible. What is The Bahamas foundation and you as director of-- Director of Racquets doing in that regard?
Derron: Just like I said, we just launched a pilot program, so five schools has equipment. We brought the teachers here. We're gonna keep it, um, very active and very engaged where we just don't give the teachers the equipment.
So like I said, we're having the course at the end of the month. Um, we're gonna spot check the teachers to make sure, you know, the equipment is still in good shape, they have enough equipment, the, that the classes are going fine. Because with this, you have mini nets. You can use caution tape, but we gave them mini nets.
You can set mini nets up in a parking lot, a basketball court, in a gymnasium. So the beginning s- start of tennis, the initial phase, the introductory phase, is basically you can set up a tennis court anywhere. As you progress and you get to the green ball Then you go full court, and regular ball you go full court.
So the plans are phase one is the pilot program, getting them into the schools, getting them into PE classes, keeping the teachers up-to-date on how they get certified, and making sure that they're giving the kids the right tools in the PE class. Having a primary school interschool tournament. So that's what we wanna do where you're wearing your school PE uniform or your school's name, and you're competing school against school because now you bring competition.
So practice, practice, practice. What are we playing for? Right. What do we do next? And then our goal is we're launching this fall a after-school program just for tennis but then we're gonna have the, of course, the racket experience on ano- as a subprogram. But we're gonna have a performance tennis, um, program, and we're gonna try and give some kids scholarships who do well in these PE classes to come here at Bahamar and play.
Long term, we would hope to want to partner with Beaches & Parks, that the tennis courts there that we help them upkeep them, as well as we get a PE teacher or a coach to be stationed at these parks, and the kid's now in proximity after school to go there for about two hours instead of maybe getting into mischief on the bar, and they can play tennis and get trained there.
And then that's how you create that volume, and then you start to pull, and then that talent comes, and maybe we get back to that golden era.
Renaldo: You know what? All of those plans sound incredible, and I, I get it. Like, as I heard the wheels spinning in your head as you were saying it, I get yeah, this is why he got the job.
I wanna get into, uh, a little bit of some questions off the beaten path. Your favorite tennis player growing up?
Derron: Pete Sampras.
Renaldo: Why Pete?
Derron: Huh. Pistolin' Pete they call him because he just ... His demeanor was you didn't think he was a champion. You didn't think he was winning. You didn't think he was losing. He just was … He would hit these bombs, I call them.
He'd just serve, and you would be walking side to side. And I think Andre Agassi says, "How do you play this guy?" And Andre Agassi would have been one of the best returners in the game Probably even still determined as one of the best returners in the game, and he would just walk side to side 'cause Pete Sampras would just be throwing those big bombs or just walking everybody...
And he had no emotion with it. So I found him interesting because he was number one in the world winning all these Grand Slams, and he just was, "Mm, okay."
Renaldo: Monotone. Correct. Ne- never see his emotions too high- Correct ... or too low. Correct. Just always one spot. Correct.
Derron: And I'll say this, that was from the boy version.
But tennis, and again like all sports, you need entertainment and some drama, hence, you know, John McEnroe brought that drama with the umpire. And hopefully one day we can get John the guy and reenact that a little bit here in some kinda exhibition maybe one day.
Renaldo: It made him a star outside of tennis.
Outta tennis. Because you could just be watching a movie and you'd see a cameo from John McEnroe doing his thing, right?
Derron: Correct. And taking on that umpire. And um, we spent some time together while he was here speaking to him. He was like, "No, some of those umpires were really horrible."No,
Renaldo: he f- he felt that.
He felt all of it. All of it was authentic. It was not him putting on. You could tell.
Derron: Yeah, he says they were really horrible. Said they were just making silly calls. And he says if you didn't challenge them, they just kept doing it.
Renaldo: Yeah. I mean, I get it.
Derron: So and we had a good laugh about it. But to say that with the drama, there's nothing like watching Serena Williams.
And ... 'Cause most, you know, man and man and man sports and the women are boring to watch. No, no, no, no. Everybody wanted to watch when those William sisters, and especially Serena, stepped on the court. It was, it was just bar none. There was entertainment. It was fight. It was grit. She, she embodied the most competitive person I've really seen, especially in our sport.
Renaldo: And that competitive nature still exists because now she came back , and everyone was still glued to it. No matter what the result was- Correct …
Derron: you were
Renaldo: still glued to whatever happened. Everybody wanted to
Derron: see. Yeah, exactly. She, she, regardless of her not getting that last Grand Slam that she wants so yet, 'cause I'm- Yes … I'm gonna say yet, great respect, she-- people show up to watch her.
They wanna know what she's doing, who she's playing. Well, well, no offense to who she's playing. They're coming to see her.
Renaldo: Yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's the way it is. Like, it's the same thing with golf. No matter who was in the field, if Tiger says he's gonna play- Tiger, correct …. you're interested in- Everybody, correct … what's happening with that.
Correct, correct. So those were your favorites then. Who are your favorites now to watch?
Derron: I like Tiafoe. He gives me a little bit of entertainment. And like I said, in speaking to John, um, while we were not playing tennis, we were playing golf by the way,Um, speaking to John he, he talked about Where the sport was, where the sport looks like it's going, and he was just talking about we need to ensure that we- the players that are coming up, they bring some kinda, you know, pizzazz.
Yeah, they're great players, and everyone can hit a great forearm, backhand, conditioning's great. Gotta sell personalities. But we got... We, we need more of in our sport the entertainment. I like a Coco Gauff. Aryna Sabalenka brings some drama. Um, little fight, little fun. She gives me a little bit of Sharapoova, Sharapova vibes, but I need another Williams on the side of her to take her on.
Um, on the men, I said Tiafoe. Alcaraz, he's been out for a while. Like him. Zverev, um, Alexander, um, I like him as well, and met him at the Miami Open.
Renaldo: Favorite Bahamian tennis player of all time?
Derron: Myself. I'm kidding. Um-
Renaldo: I mean, you know what? Actually, that's probably the most poli- politically correct answer you can give.
I, I, I would stick with that.
Derron: Yeah, 'cause you get in, you know, you get in trouble. Oh, he like Roger. Oh, he like Mark. And then no. I'm gonna say Mark- Yeah. Right ... right now because you know Mark. We're gonna need you here for the foundation at the end of the year, and bring those players and, you know, help us raise all our money for these kids.
So we're gonna go with Mark Knowles as my favorite doubles Bahamian player.
Renaldo: Everyone knows this. It's a few big dogs at the top there. I mean, the man was number one. I mean, you g- You gotta give him his props for that, right?" Correct. So how do we get back to that era, get back to that spot? I know we talked about, you know, putting the rackets in more of the kids' hands.
That's such a big part of it, but I think another big part of it is what you're doing here and having more of these events that bring the locals into it and get that activity at the senior level. Is that something that goes into the marketing plan behind all of this?
Derron: It's a lot of moving parts with that, and Baha Mar has done a good job in signing these MOUs or these part-- developing these partnerships and long term hopefully having a partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association.
Politics aside, whatever's going on, the politics should never affect, um, the athletes, the coaches, the investment in coaching. Um, and being at Baha Mar gives the opportunity to also expose coach- coaches to more certification, more, um, exposure internationally so they can be able to help develop these athletes, 'cause that's part of
You can't leave out the coaching. That's part of getting these athletes to a Roger Smith, a Mark Knowles level and getting that number one. As well as, again, like I said, if they partner, if we end up partnering with the BLTA ensuring the proper development through the foundation as well Hopefully the Olympic Committee provides a, a route for these athletes to compete at the Central American and Caribbean Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Pan Am Sports, Pan Am Games, which all are qualifiers for the Olympics.
We have to pick our route and what we wanna excel in, and focus more on doubles. Doubles teaches you how to use the entire court in all the sports. So pickle has singles, but I ... boy, you gotta be in shape for the singles in pickle- But I wa-
Renaldo: I was about to say though, I, I like your train of thought of let's pick something and let's focus on that because what if we make a greater effort to focus more on pickle?
Derron: Yeah, we could, and we need to get hopefully the ... It's talk of pickle one day soon making it in the next Olympics. We're gonna see if it makes LA. Haven't seen it on the schedule yet. But once that gets there, then that's an avenue. That's why I want to start the after school rackets, uh, program because then the child can taste a little bit of pickle- Yeah
taste a little bit of paddle- You get to choose ... taste a little bit of tennis. And like a little boy said in an interview when we were at one of the Eva Hilton Primary School, one of the pilot schools that we donated the equipment to, I remember he said to the reporter, he says, "I don't mind trying it because I never know if I'm good at it because I never tried it.
So I'm happy that Bahamar is doing this because I get to see if I'm good at tennis." So that right there light bulb is telling me that if we put these things in their hand, it gives them a shot at trying to, you know, see if they're good at it, and it gives me as a coach and other coaches a shot to say talent ID identify that okay, they're good at that, and give them a scholarship to come here at Bahamar and train in one of our programs.
Okay.
Renaldo: You got the most high end of all high end guests. He comes down to the John McEnroe Center. He says, "I got one hour. Which one of these sports are you teaching me?"
Derron: And he's never played it?
Renaldo: He's never played any one of these, first-timer.
Derron: So he's definitely gonna, if has a hour or hour and a half, he's definitely gonna racket hop with me first.
He's gonna racket hop with me first, and then I'm gonna ask him which one do you think you wanna play? Which one do you like? Because I'm not gonna stick to one. Gonna let him sample all three, and then we'll decide after that. And then I may tell him no, no leave tennis alone. No, no absolutely. But we're gonna give him a taste of all three.
We're gonna sell the racket hop.
Renaldo: I asked that because that is exactly what I am going to do, and I am that guest . Duran thank you so much for joining us on this episode. Like I said at the beginning, this is Beyond The Stay. This is the, uh, the podcast where we bring you the stories behind the people that make Baha Mar so great, make Bahama so much more than a resort but one of the most sought after destinations in the Caribbean.
When you come to Baha Mar, you come here for the cuisine, you come here for the art, the entertainment, and you can also come here for the sports, come here for the racket sports