Mowed Down at the Lawn
On the final night of the regular season for the TML A2 Division, Ambassadors saw a double header, first attending a thorough routing of the last place Wanless by the first place Kew Gardens, followed by a 2-2 split between the Toronto Lawn and Cottingham, tied in the standings. The top four teams of the Men’s A2 will compete in playoffs for the first time this year, with the final to be played at the Rexall Centre during the Rogers Cup on July 27, 2008.Kent Yee and Ian Roberts of the Toronto Lawn were in the midst of a “very intense match” that culminated in a tie break victory for the Lawn in the second set. At this level, men’s doubles is a hard hitting, fast paced game, requiring quick reflexes and effective put aways. Players who were taught doubles strategy are told to aim a short pop-up at the feet of the opponents or to aim directly at a player’s midsection. Occasionally, a player does get hit with a ball and tonight it’s Kent Yee who takes one for the team. A player’s first reaction to getting hit is typically anger and tonight is no exception. Most of the time the anger is directed inwardly for not being fast enough to block the shot. A discussion with your pro on this topic will help you see that it is part of the game and it’s the ball that hits you, not the player.
Kent is both a gentleman and an accomplished player who understands the game of doubles. It took a couple of minutes for Kent to regroup and then he looked across the net, raised his hand and spoke to his opponent. “We’re good Jay, it’s all good.”
A Club is a Club is a Club
For some, there remains a misconception that sports such as tennis and golf are considered elite, despite the fact that approximately 75% of tennis in Canada is played on public courts. Walking into the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club with its members playing croquet, cricket, lawn bowling or tennis on immaculately maintained lawns and clay courts, one was certainly confronted with evidence of this stereotype.Yet, the closer we got to the TML A2 match taking place against the visiting team from Trinity the more we began to see beyond those labels. Yes, the men were dressed in white, but closer inspection revealed the standard issue faded T-shirt and occasional crumpled collar found in every male’s dresser drawer or gym bag. More typical than stereotypical.
By hanging around until the matches progress, we quickly discovered that there is a real sense of team spirit and true camaraderie within the Cricket Club. The players who are done cheered on the matches still in progress with calls of “great shot Southey or “C’mon John you know you want that Miele dishwasher.” A great leaping backhand put away resulted in cheers for the “fastest 245-pounder in the league,” as Rob Cimetta, a former Toronto Maple Leafs player, wowed everyone at Line 3. People dropped by to see how the team was doing, beverages were offered to the visitors and the good natured ribbing continued.
Our original vantage point from the rooftop merely told us that the clothes are white and the club is reminiscent of the traditions of Wimbledon. Back on the ground, eye to eye with the players, we saw that it’s the same experience as the match in the public park down the street. No matter where matches are being played, at the court level, it’s the same scenario – play hard, have fun, and if you win, make sure to gloat.
BACK TO ARCHIVE
Even though the TML has a constitution and procedures for proper annual meetings, Fraser stopped paying for a room to meet and food to eat because he couldn’t even get a quorum to pass any proposed rule changes. The men who play in the league aren’t all that concerned with league structure, they are just happy that someone will take the time to organize competitive tennis for them.
Thus, the $40 entry fee per team goes to the cost of maintaining a Web site with any overage used to sponsor tennis related activities or charities such as the Doug Philpott Inner City Children’s Fund, another initiative supported by Miele Limited, and promoting grassroots tennis.
The TML will send the top two teams from both the A1 and A2 divisions to play at the Rogers Cup on final Sunday. Playing at the Rexall Centre has been a major motivator for many of the men in the league and can be summed up best by Byrick Wilson who plays A2 for the Cricket Club. “Now we have to win this thing!”
As teaching pros, Al and Adam will spend a good part of their summer getting recreational doubles partners to strategize and communicate on the court. Many club players spend a lot of money on strokes and strategy but fail to apply that during a match. Some lack the confidence to implement what they intend. After all, it is embarrassing to tell your partner, “I’m serving out wide” and then have the ball land on the tee. Yet every teaching pro will tell you it is better to have a plan and have that fail, then to never plan a point at all. Watching Al and Adam play Ben and Richard, the importance of good communication and support for each other was beautifully demonstrated. Bad shot or good shot, it did not matter. They pumped each other up and talked strategy between each and every point. One Tennis Canada Ambassador, who captains an ICTA Ladies B team, had never seen league tennis played at this level and remarked that she “wished her team could come out and see this…..It was fabulous to see how effective it was!”
The men love fans at their matches and with two weeks left in the regular season for the Men’s A1 division there are six teams that will make the league playoffs. The top two A1 teams will play as part of the Miele League Challenge at the Rogers Cup on Sunday, July 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Talk to your league convenor about getting grounds passes for the day, and you could be that spectator on the sidelines learning a thing or two from the “big boys.”
Spotlight on the Toronto Men’s League
The Toronto Men’s League (TML) has been around in various forms since 1949, when teams called the Canadian National Railways and the Canadian Bank of Commerce competed on mostly grass courts. The league was almost defunct when Fraser MacDonald took over a few years ago. No matter how established the league or how great the latest national program is, tennis succeeds at the ground level because a couple of people step up and make it happen. Today the TML has five levels of play, 37 teams and approximately 500 players. The league remains geographically located in the City of Toronto to minimize issues with traffic and travel.Even though the TML has a constitution and procedures for proper annual meetings, Fraser stopped paying for a room to meet and food to eat because he couldn’t even get a quorum to pass any proposed rule changes. The men who play in the league aren’t all that concerned with league structure, they are just happy that someone will take the time to organize competitive tennis for them.
Thus, the $40 entry fee per team goes to the cost of maintaining a Web site with any overage used to sponsor tennis related activities or charities such as the Doug Philpott Inner City Children’s Fund, another initiative supported by Miele Limited, and promoting grassroots tennis.
The TML will send the top two teams from both the A1 and A2 divisions to play at the Rogers Cup on final Sunday. Playing at the Rexall Centre has been a major motivator for many of the men in the league and can be summed up best by Byrick Wilson who plays A2 for the Cricket Club. “Now we have to win this thing!”
Practice What You Teach
Sporting blue painted faces, Kew Gardens teaching professionals Alastair Millar and Adam Baranowski thoroughly entertained the fans in a two hour, 7-5, 7-6 battle against Richard Mainella and Ben Woo. At 6’ 5” Alastair has a serve that Ben later commented as the “biggest he has ever tried to return.” Cheers for Al come from a group of young up and comers doing the wave on a picnic table while fans clap and hoot as all four players demonstrate fantastic court coverage, poaches and put aways. It’s Kew Night at Kew Gardens Tennis Club, a night where the two A1 TML teams play against each other for bragging rights for the rest of the year.As teaching pros, Al and Adam will spend a good part of their summer getting recreational doubles partners to strategize and communicate on the court. Many club players spend a lot of money on strokes and strategy but fail to apply that during a match. Some lack the confidence to implement what they intend. After all, it is embarrassing to tell your partner, “I’m serving out wide” and then have the ball land on the tee. Yet every teaching pro will tell you it is better to have a plan and have that fail, then to never plan a point at all. Watching Al and Adam play Ben and Richard, the importance of good communication and support for each other was beautifully demonstrated. Bad shot or good shot, it did not matter. They pumped each other up and talked strategy between each and every point. One Tennis Canada Ambassador, who captains an ICTA Ladies B team, had never seen league tennis played at this level and remarked that she “wished her team could come out and see this…..It was fabulous to see how effective it was!”
The men love fans at their matches and with two weeks left in the regular season for the Men’s A1 division there are six teams that will make the league playoffs. The top two A1 teams will play as part of the Miele League Challenge at the Rogers Cup on Sunday, July 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Talk to your league convenor about getting grounds passes for the day, and you could be that spectator on the sidelines learning a thing or two from the “big boys.”
