All in the Family

“If you treat tennis well, tennis will treat you well.” So says Walter Lima, the junior development director at Thornhill Park Tennis Club, one of the very successful public clubs in the GTA. For Walter, tennis is truly a family affair. His three sons, Joshua, Jordan and Alexander, are the defending club champions in their age categories and also volunteer for the club. Joshua plays on the ICTA Mixed B team and is presently undefeated. Jordan is the Captain for the Boys ICTA team and is currently ranked No. 61 in the OTA U14 category. Alexander also plays on the same ICTA Boy’s Team as his brother, competing in the U12 category.

Walter’s extended family includes the kids in the very popular summer camp program run by club professional Josh Borenstein. During the summer, more than 350 kids attend programs at this four court facility. Thornhill’s camps have a waiting list and in the past Josh has had to refer kids to other clubs in the area. The executive is currently negotiating the use of two nearby courts to meet the demand. Rick Bertozzi, vice-president, attributes the success of the club to its active and passionate volunteers. With three ICTA Mixed Teams, the Junior Boys ICTA Team and two Toronto Ladies League teams competing at levels from C to Majors, this small club demonstrates what dedicated people can accomplish. Enthusiasm for tennis at all ages and all levels runs high at Thornhill. Walter doesn’t appear to worry about whether his sons will make it to the ATP Tour. He knows that “tennis is a game that you can go away from and come back to” and you’ll always be welcome.

Graduating to the Bigger Racquet

At the other end of the “sport for life” continuum, the Tennis Canada Ambassadors visited a +55 ICTA match at the Bramalea Tennis Club. With baby boomers now reaching this age group, this small league is showing enormous growth potential. The format for this league includes one line each of women’s, men’s and mixed doubles on Thursday mornings. The timeslot means that many of the men are “very retired” as Brian Connolly described himself, sporting a gold tennis racquet on a chain around his neck. Brian, who actually still works part time, started playing 18 years ago when he moved to Canada from Ireland. He “likes to get out and run around or get runned around” as he described his mixed doubles match that morning. Many team members are married couples who assured us that they do enjoy playing mixed doubles together. Although the ladies are adamant that the men still try and hog every ball. The women from both teams are very active tennis players. Marta Innes plays in three leagues having switched to tennis from ping pong years ago. Quick to proclaim that “it’s the same game, just a bigger racquet and a bigger ball,” Marta had quick hands at the net and won her ladies doubles match that morning against the Fitness Institute. Both teams happily posed for the Ambassadors’ cameras, gave their input on the state of league tennis in the GTA and then happily went inside for lunch.

BACK TO ARCHIVE

Growing into the Game

Every summer, thousands of kids in the GTA pick up a tennis racquet. Some for the very first time, some because they’ve waited all winter long for their local courts to open, and some because it’s what they do three times a week already. Attracting kids to the sport of tennis has never been a challenge. Over the last few years there have been many exciting innovations in the way young people are taught the game of tennis. Tennis Canada’s Progressive Tennis program is a program for 5-9 year olds which enables young players to learn and play the game more quickly, efficiently and successfully. It uses a systematic progression of court sizes, balls and racquets, to scale the game down to an appropriate level for kids so that they are immediately successful. It allows children to achieve a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment right from the start. This method of teaching has been used successfully in European countries to develop top players like Justine Henin and Olivier Rochus. After all, we don’t put five year olds out on a stadium sized soccer field or a major league baseball diamond, so why should we expect kids to learn tennis on a regulation size court with racquets as tall as they are? Learning tennis should no longer be a frustrating experience of tedious lessons and repetitive drills, but rather a fun activity whereby participants will gain confidence and a sense of accomplishment early on by seeing their immediate progress, making them more enthusiastic about continuing to play the game. And of course, once they can get the ball over the net, most kids want to get on a team and play some competitive games. Providing kids with organized play through Junior leagues or Community Team Tennis, whether that is within their club or in their community, prepares them for a lifetime of participation in this great sport. Only a few of the kids with racquets in their hands this summer will end up with tennis scholarships and international rankings. The remainder, when given a successful foundation, will join the leagues of thousands of adult recreational tennis players and benefit from the sport for the rest of their lives.

Serving it Up Big

At the age of 14, Megan Nobrega is exactly what the future of tennis needs: a bright, articulate, committed tennis player who gives back to her club and her sport. When she was seven, a friend begged Megan to come to a summer tennis camp and Megan was hooked. At 11, Megan began playing OTA tournaments, achieving a ranking in the high teens. Now competing in the U14 division, her ranking is lower but her determination is stronger. She hits the ball for at least one and a half hours a day, runs a mile before practice at the Oakville Academy of Tennis and plays Line 1 on her club’s adult Lakeshore League team. Last year Megan agreed to captain the Boys Inter County Tennis Association team. It turned out that there were more girls than boys who were willing to play for the team, but there weren’t very many girls’ teams in the league. Being a captain is challenging enough for an adult, yet Megan diligently makes phone calls to field a lineup that often gets crushed by the boys.

The ICTA Junior League program is growing but it lacks awareness in many clubs and additionally, it competes directly with the Saturday morning prime time slot for tennis clubs. According to James Boyce, executive director of the OTA, “the future of our sport lies in the ability to bring new younger people into the tennis community.” We need to cultivate people like Megan Nobrega by providing juniors with support for competitive team play at their age and level, and encourage them to get involved in volunteer or leadership roles. When juniors are supported by their clubs and leagues they will not only continue to enjoy the sport and reap its benefits, but also feel a sense of responsibility to give back to the sport. And these are the valuable people that have contributed to the growth and popularity of our sport in the last few years.