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Regional Association · Tennis · Central America and the Caribbean

COTECC — Confederación de Tenis de Centroamérica y el Caribe

The regional association of World Tennis (the ITF) for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, which runs the region’s 14-and-under junior circuit and is led by a president re-elected in May 2025 for 2025–2027.
✓ Last reviewed: October 2026
Full nameConfederación de Tenis de Centroamérica y el Caribe[1]
RegionMexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, as its members page lists them[4]
MembersNational tennis associations of the region, named on its members page, which gives no total[4]
PresidentPersio Maldonado (Dominican Republic), re-elected in May 2025 for 2025–2027[6]
World bodyWorld Tennis (the ITF); regional associations are governed by Article 5 of the ITF Constitution 2026[7]
Senior regional championshipNone listed; COTECC’s 2026 events are junior circuit events[5]

What is COTECC?

COTECC, the Confederación de Tenis de Centroamérica y el Caribe, is the regional tennis association for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.[1] Its own statement of purpose, printed in English on its site, is “to encourage and promote the game of tenis, as well as to establish and coordinate development and education programs in all members countries”.[2] The Dominican outlet CDN Deportes, reporting the confederation’s 2025 elections, described it as working under the governance of the International Tennis Federation.[6]

Its site organises its activity by division: men’s and women’s professional tennis, 14-and-under and 12-and-under juniors, 18-and-under juniors, wheelchair tennis, beach tennis, Special Olympics and senior (veterans’) tennis, with a page on the tennis integrity unit.[5] COTECC is not a governing body of the professional game: the men’s and women’s tours are governed by the ATP and the WTA, and the rules of tennis and the junior and entry-level professional circuits by World Tennis (the ITF).

What does COTECC govern or do?

COTECC writes no rules of play; the Rules of Tennis are World Tennis’s. What a regional association does is set by Article 5.6 of the ITF Constitution 2026: it must provide a link between its member national associations and the ITF, represent them in their dealings with the ITF if asked, promote competition, establish, sanction and organise calendars of events, recommend international events, promote development and educational programmes, and carry out functions the ITF delegates to it.[7]

In practice, COTECC’s site carries the region’s calendar of 14-and-under junior events and its regulations.[5] It publishes a regulations section alongside its statutes, though the statute documents on its site are served through an embedded viewer whose text could not be retrieved.[1] Anti-doping and anti-corruption in tennis are the remit of the International Tennis Integrity Agency, to which World Tennis links from its governance pages.[9]

When was COTECC founded and where is it based?

No founding date for COTECC could be confirmed from a primary source retrieved: its own organisation and statutes pages do not state one in retrievable text.[2] At its May 2025 assembly the confederation honoured Gonzalo Mejía, of the Dominican Republic, for his work for tennis in the region, CDN Deportes reported.[6]

Its site gives an email address but no postal address or legal seat.[1] Its board on 1 October 2026 is Persio Maldonado (Dominican Republic), president; Carlos Bravo (Costa Rica), first vice-president; Carlos González López de Lara (Mexico), second vice-president; and directors Perry Newton (Bahamas) and Tulio Dávila (Guatemala). Four sub-regional representatives sit beside them, one for each of the confederation’s sub-regions.[3] CDN Deportes reported that Maldonado was re-elected unanimously, for a fourth consecutive term, 2025–2027, at an ordinary assembly in Panama City in May 2025, and that he had led the confederation since 2016.[6]

How is COTECC recognised?

A tennis regional association is recognised by World Tennis. Article 5.1 of the Constitution of the ITF 2026, dated 1 January 2026, states: “The Regional Associations affiliated to the ITF as of 1 January 2026 are listed at APPENDIX D.” Article 5.2 lets the ITF Council approve a new regional affiliation by special majority, provided the applicant’s region does not overlap an existing association’s.[7] Under Article 5.5 a regional association may send up to two delegates to a General Meeting, propose resolutions to the Council, apply for ITF funds for regional associations and receive ITF support for regional development; under Article 9.15.5 its representatives “may speak but may not vote at the meeting”.[7] The text of Appendix D could not be retrieved; COTECC’s ITF tie is attested by its own site, which carries the ITF’s mark, and by the CDN Deportes report, which records the ITF president’s congratulations to the board elected in 2025.[6] COSAT, the South American regional association, names “la COTECC en Centroamérica” among the regional groupings “encargadas de velar por el correcto cumplimiento de las directrices generadas desde la ITF en cada una de las asociaciones y/o federaciones nacionales”.[11]

COTECC holds no IOC recognition of its own. Tennis is on the programme of the Lima 2027 Pan American Games (23 July–8 August 2027), per Panam Sports.[8] Whether Panam Sports lists COTECC among its recognised confederations could not be confirmed from a retrieved source.

What does COTECC organise?

COTECC runs no senior (open) regional championship; the 2026 events on its calendar are all in the 14-and-under category.[5] They are the Merendon Junior Bowl and the Honduras Junior Bowl (Honduras), the Master U14 (Mexico), Pura Vida U14 (Costa Rica), the SVG Chatoyer U14 (St Vincent), TIHTA U14 (Aruba), the Suriname Tennis Cup, Copa Guatemala II, the Copas Palmas del Caribe and the Puerto Rico Bowl (Puerto Rico), and JITIC U14 and a U14 Central American play-off, both in El Salvador.[5]

The 18-and-under pathway in the region runs through the ITF’s World Tennis Tour Juniors, which COTECC’s site lists as a separate division, and the region’s professional events are tournaments of the ITF World Tennis Tour.[1]

Who are its members?

Members are national tennis associations. COTECC’s members page lists, in this order, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Belize, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, Sint Maarten and the United States Virgin Islands.[4] The page gives no total, and no count by the confederation itself could be retrieved. Several listed members are territories rather than sovereign states, among them Bonaire, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The Federación Mexicana de Tenis is among them. Each national association is also, in its own right, a member of World Tennis, which counts “214 member national tennis associations”.[10] South America’s ten associations belong to the neighbouring regional association, COSAT.

References

  1. COTECC — official site, home page (divisions, menu, ITF mark). Accessed 2026-10-01.
  2. COTECC — Organización / Organization (purpose). Accessed 2026-10-01.
  3. COTECC — Comité Directivo / Board of Directors. Accessed 2026-10-01.
  4. COTECC — Países miembros / Members Countries. Accessed 2026-10-01.
  5. COTECC — Eventos / Events (2026 calendar and divisions). Accessed 2026-10-01.
  6. CDN Deportes — “Persio Maldonado es reelecto en presidencia de la Cotecc”, Hecmari Ugarte, 19 May 2025. Accessed 2026-10-01.
  7. World Tennis (ITF) — The Constitution of the ITF 2026, dated 1 January 2026, Articles 5 and 9.15.5. Accessed 2026-10-01.
  8. Panam Sports — Lima 2027 Pan American Games: dates and sports programme. Accessed 2026-10-01.
  9. World Tennis (ITF) — About us: governance links, including anti-doping and anti-corruption (ITIA). Accessed 2026-10-01.
  10. World Tennis (ITF) — Member associations. Accessed 2026-10-01.
  11. COSAT — Profesionales: regional groupings and ITF directives. Accessed 2026-10-01.