Dear SITA Members,
So far, this author is thrilled at the warm weather and lack of rain. Unfortunately, it is likely coming to an end soon as November is notorious for overcast skies and lots of rain. So on that somewhat dreary note, keep summer alive by staying on those public courts for as long as possible! And when the weather dictates otherwise, bring your regular groups inside so that you can stay sharp for the upcoming winter circuit.
Riley Trottier
South Island Tennis Association
On September 23rd a Junior Player Award was given to Victor Stepanov at the Volkl Junior Tournament at Panorama Rec Centre. Victor wrote to thank SITA for the award and will use the prize to purchase tennis lessons at Panorama. Congratulations Victor, keep up the good work!
Those of you with young children may already have seen Progressive Tennis and understand what it's all about. For those of you who don't Progressive Tennis is a scaled town version of regular tennis for young children under the age of 10. It has smaller racquets, nets and softer balls to allow young children to develop technical abilities on a level that is practical for them. It is a worldwide system that is very popular and is widely considered the best way to teach children the sport. SITA strongly supports using Progressive Tennis to teach children tennis fundamentals.
If you are interested in teaching your child how to play tennis, you should look up one of your local rec centres and sign your child up for a progressive tennis program! Cedar Hill, Oak Bay and Panorama all offer progressive classes, and the Langford Tennis Club will also soon be offering their own program.
A message for those of you who want to know about the South Island Tennis League:
We are gearing up for the new 2012 season, getting the entry form updated and printed, hopefully in time for the New Year's Classic at Oak Bay Rec.
If you have any comments or suggestions for the league, please let us know. Committee members are Dean Gillis, Judy Huff, Simon Holla, Sylvia Pang, Bob Turner and Shelley Grout. If you don't run into us on the courts, send us an email at sitlinfo@yahoo.ca.
Many thanks to Judy Strand for her years of volunteering with the South Island Tennis League!
At the recent Tennis BC AGM a presentation was made by Tennis Canada's Hatam McDadi, VP Tennis Development, outlining tennis development in British Columbia and across the entire country. The entire presentation is too long to be included here, but these were some of the highlights:
- BC leads the way in terms of tennis participation in Canada
- There has been a drastic rise in "frequent tennis players" over the past year
- BC is beginning a national training program that will based out of the Northshore Winter Club with new coach Oded Jacob
- Canada becoming a much bigger force on the international tennis scene thanks to recent success by the Davis Cup team, as well as the individual results of Rebecca Marino and Milos Raonic
SITA is proud of BC's leading role on the Tennis Canada scene, and is excited to a part of a growing national trend that will hopefully culminate in tennis emerging as a leading national pastime.
From September 30th to October 2nd Cedar Hill Rec Centre hosted the annual Pacific Rim Racketlon. The tournament had about 70 entries and featured repeat champions in both the mens and womens singles events. Allison Marr continued her dominance of the womens category while Morgan Latremouille became the third consecutive two-time winner. For more details on the tournament, check out the link on Racketlon Canada.
November 9 - 13
Cedar Hill 3KO Singles
Events: MWs 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0+
Cedar Hill Recreation Centre, Victoria
Contact: Dean Gillis 250-475-7126
December 9 - 11
Panorama Christmas Mixed Doubles
Mxd 3KO
Panorama Recreation Centre, North Saanich
Entry deadline December 6, 2011
Contact: Eric Knoester 250-655-2177
December 27 - 30
New Year's Classic
Events: BGs 10, 12, 14, 18
Oak Bay Recreation Centre, Victoria
Contact: Ed Bakker 250-370-7109
SITA would love to hear from you, dear readers. We would like to know about your tennis experiences in Victoria, and from around the world. Have you found any problems on courts in Victoria recently? Tell us about it. What about playing on a new or unique surface somewhere else in the world? What country were you in, and what was the tennis facility called? Where would you recommend people go to play if they happened to be in another country you just visited? Please tell us all about your experiences, and we'll publish some in every newsletter starting in the fall.
The Shot. It's from a few years back. If you haven't seen it, check it out now. If you have, just watch it again and shake your head.
Check out the video on YouTube!
Know any other awesome videos you think tennis fans would appreciate? Email them in to sitatennis@gmail.com and we'll put some more in the next newsletter!
