BRADENTON - Nick Bollettieri Academy's General Manager Dave Marcinko describes this week's Eddie Herr international Youth Tennis Tournament with two words: "busy'' and "fun.''

"The first few days are always really busy," Marcinko said. "It's a near year-round preparation to organize the tournament, but when the tournament is ready to go, we're ready.

"After the first couple of years of setting the tournament up, we've figured out how to run it. Rick and Mary Workman, Steve Shulla, Amy Kindel and all the operations personnel have done a terrific job."

With more than 1,250 players from 87 different countries participating in the tournament, the daily operations appears to be a madcap blur of unrelated activities. But, behind the action and fun, the tournament runs like a well-oiled machine.

"Everything is pretty much handled in-house," Marcinko said. "The entire Academy staff, The Eddie Herr staff and the International Tennis Federation officials work as a team, and they're doing a fantastic job."

Last year, an estimated 900 players participated in the tournament, and the expectations for players and spectators is greater this year.

"I think there are more people here than last year," said front gate security officer John Voychik. "But we had some good changes with the parking. It's turned out good. Everyone has really pitched in and everything is working out real well."

Although the high visibility, and especially the name Eddie Herr, attracts participants to the world-renowned event, the increased number of participants can also be attributed to other factors.

"We've not only added a few more divisions this year, 12-18, but we also have all hard courts, which has made it a little easier," Marcinko said. "The first year was all clay courts and we had to use various facilities. This year, we're using roughly 50 hard courts.

Although more than 87 different nations have players represented at the tournament, the different languages pose little problem with the Yazigi Language Study Center on the grounds, and the information booth near the courts is often a beehive of activity.

"It's exciting to watch the kids," said Rosie Johnson, a friendly seven-year Bollettieri employee. "It's a lot of fun and we're supposed to have good weather all week, too."

Bollettieri honored - Nick Bollettieri, founder and president of the Bollettieri Tennis Academy, is one of the driving forces behind the Eddie Herr tournament, which allows young tennis players the opportunity to participate in national competition and possibly move up in the ranks as a professional player.

Earlier this year, the renowned tennis coach received well-deserved recognition by the United States Tennis Association when he received the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) Coach of the Year award.

Bollettieri also received two other prestigious awards this year: the National Symposium for Children and Poverty and the Distinguished Citizen of the Year for Manatee County honors.