GET ON THE COURT VIDEO TO PROMOTE TENNIS PARTICIPATION

Can you spot the Ontario players and clubs in this video to encourage players to "get on the court" and enjoy playing tennis?

Send us the names of 6 or more people and 4 or more locations in this video and you could win a prize of OTA wear! Send your email with the title Get On The Court Competition to pamolley@sympatico.ca 

CANADA'S TEAM FOR PAN AM GAMES

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Tennis Canada have announced the names of six athletes who will  represent Canada at the TORONTO 2015 Pan American Games from July 10 to 26 at the Canadian Tennis Centre, recently renamed the Aviva Centre. The team was determined based on the ATP World Tour and WTA world rankings as of June 1, 2015.

The women’s roster will feature rising star, 18 year-old Françoise Abanda, of Quebec, Canada’s No. 2-ranked singles player Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa (see photo above) and Sharon Fichman of Toronto. Dabrowski and Fichman, who regularly play together at Fed Cup, will represent Canada in the women’s doubles event.

Philip Bester of BC, Peter Polansky of Thornhill and Brayden Schnur of Pickering form the men’s team. These three players have won 21 professional-level singles titles between them. Brayden Schnur is currently a top-ranked NCAA Division I athlete at the University of North Carolina. Polansky holds the highest-career ranking of the trio at world No. 122. Bester and Schnur will represent Canada’s in the men’s doubles. Bester and Dabrowski  will compete in the mixed doubles draw.

Sharon Fichman (see photo here) is particularly thrilled to be competing in the games. “It always means so much to me to represent Canada and being able to play for my country at the Pan Am Games in my own hometown will be an even bigger honour. Being on the pro tour means I rarely get to spend time at home, so the chance to compete at such a big event in front of my friends and family is so special. I’m very excited for the summer and hope to make everyone proud!”

Canada will field the largest team in its Pan American Games history with over 700 athletes expected to be named to the Team at the Games in Toronto. With TORONTO 2015 providing a “Home Games” experience, as well as a number of qualification opportunities for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, these Games will offer a tremendous experience for Canada’s high performance athletes.

SPECIAL EXHIBIT ON TENNIS IN AURORA FOR PAN AM GAMES

The Aurora Historical Society, with support from a Federal Government grant around the Pan Am and Para Pan Am Games, has developed an exhibit around the history of tennis in Canada, which is now open at the Hillary House.  The Hillary House (see photo), built in 1862, is a National Historic Site situated on 2.5 acres on Yonge Street, in downtown Aurora and is run as a year round museum. The Hillary family members were avid sports people and tennis was their favorite sport.  The Aurora Tennis Club operated on the grass court on the site (see photo below). Two clay courts were added in the early 1930s that were the beginnings of the Aurora Community Tennis Club, which relocated to a nearby public park in 1934. 

When the AHS acquired the Hillary House, they found many family belongings in the home including several tennis racquets (one dated 1907), a lawn roller, and line marking equipment.  They also found an abundance of sports photos, sleds and snowshoes, 3 croquet sets as old as 1880 and a complete set of Slazenger Lawn Bowls dated 1903. 

The AHS has brought the sporting days back to Hillary House and they are restoring the grass court, on which they will hold a series of exhibition matches and festive events in July and August. Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame members with connections to the Aurora community such as Bob Bedard, Keith Carpenter, Harry Fauquier, Lorne Main and Lawrie Strong will be participating in these exhibition matches, which will be part of festive events with appropriate offerings of food and drink.

The curated exhibition on Tennis in Canada: From early beginnings to Global Success opened early in June. It focuses on the early years of the sport and includes artifacts, photography, pictorials, graphics and some interactive material.  There will also be material about the history of the Pan Am Games. Other popular domestic sports such as lawn bowling and Croquet, which were pastimes of the Hillarys, are also be included in the exhibit.

For details of the special events, opening hours of the exhibits and more information please go to the Aurora Historical Society at www.aurorahs.com.  

Opening ceremonies for the grass court will be held on July 18 and Closing ceremonies on Aug 8. Other special days are scheduled for July 19 and Jul 25 and more may be added. A full article on the exhibit and the history of tennis in Canada will be included in the summer issue of Ontario Tennis.

The Hillary House National Historic Site and the Tennis in Canada exhibit is open between 10 am and 4 pm Wednesday through Saturday each week.  Admission is $3.00 for adults, $2.00 for seniors and children, free for AHS members.

DAVISVILLE CUP HELPS PHILPOTT FUND

  Not to be confused with Davis Cup, the Davisville Cup is the Davisville Tennis Club's annual charity tournament. It is the highlight of the tennis season and is all about having fun and giving back to the community! This year the theme for teams was Nethitz and many different hit TV shows were represented on June 6^th when the event was held. 

More than $14,000 was raised this year. All the proceeds go to the Philpott Inner-City Tennis Fund, which provides free tennis camps to children in Toronto's inner-city neighbourhoods, bringing the total raised by the Davisville Cup over nine years to more than $110,000.

Thanks go to the teams who so well represented the hit shows like Mad Men (the winning team), Orange is the New Black, Trailer Park Boys, Downton Abbey and Sons of Anarchy. 

 Congratulations to Heather Brooks and Doug Porter for their efforts in organizing such a successful and fun event. 

For more photos check out the Davisville Tennis Club FB page.  For more information on the Philpott Fund check out www.philpottchildrenstennis.ca .

OFSAA CHAMPIONSHIPS KEEP GROWING

The annual Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations held their annual tennis championships at the  Rexall Centre June 1 to 3 this year. Competition is divided into Open and High School levels. Here are the names and schools of the top 4 in each event in both levels. Participation in this event keeps growing since the event has been held regularly at such a prestigeous site. Pictured here are the events organizers enjoying some sunshine.

 Open Boys Singles:
1.  Mark Jensen Oakville Trafalgar (GHAC), 2.  Peter Coombs Oakville Trafalgar (GHAC), 3. Christopher Corrao- Bill Crothers (YRAA),4. John Drake - Eden High School (SOSSA)

Open Boys Doubles:
1.  Martin Hong & Peter Divilek Abbey Park (GHAC), 2. Brooks Coffey & Alp Tezol - North Toronto (TDSSAA), 3. Nic Loncar & Spencer Grant Oakville Trafalgar (GHAC) 4. James Stevenson & Victor Li - St. Andrew's College (CISAA)

Open Girls Singles:

1.  Mya Bui - PickeringHS (LOSSA),2. Ksenia Providokhina - Bill Crothers SS (YRAA), 3. Anna Maria Buraya - Bayview Glen (CISAA),4. Rebecca Herrington - Banting (GBSSA)

Open Girls Doubles:

1.  Layne Van Buskirk & Silvia Verebes- Holy Names (SWOSSAA), 2. Alicia Opatowski & Carleyah McLean - Dunbarton HS (LOSSA), 3.  Katherine Yampolsky & Alex Fainblum - Thornhill SS (YRAA), 4. Ecaterina Camer & Taylor Cheung-Damonte - Lawrence Park (TDSSAA)

Open Mixed Doubles:

1. Teona & Victor Velehorschi- Massey (SWOSSAA),2. Selena Celic & Adrian Mag- Tecumseh Vista (SWOSSAA),3. Sara Krupica & Milos Markovic - Humberside (TDSSAA),4. Petar Vucenovic & Jelena Vucenovic - A.N. Myer S.S. (SOSSA) 

High School Boys Singles:

1.Grant McPherson - St. Michael Catholic SS (WOSSAA),2. Matt Kovacs - Catholic Central HS (WOSSAA),3. Jonah Baryliuk - Monsignor Paul Dwyer CHS (LOSSA), 4. Matthew Ross - St. Michael's College (CISAA)

High School Boys Doubles:

1. Kurtis Dean & Luke Vesz- Humberview S.S (ROPSSAA), 2. Waleed Baig & Nikhil Taneja - A.B. Lucas SS (WOSSAA), 3. John & Luke Fischer - Stratford Central (WOSSAA), 4. Connor Hutchinson & Tyler Lam - Holy Trinity School (CISAA)

High School Girls Singles:

1.  Jules Johnson - Oakridge SS (WOSSAA), 2. Mara Stroe - J Clarke Richardson (LOSSA), 3. Megan Gilkes - Holy Trinity School (CISAA), 4. Sierra Olsthoorn - Waterloo CI (CWOSSA)

High School Girls Doubles:

1. Catherine Rastin & Clara Rastin- St. Patrick (SWOSSAA), 2. Victoria Tseng Paepcke & Caroline Feeley- Lorne Park S.S. (ROPSSAA), 3. Portia Tabone & Morgan Simard- Lajeunesse (SWOSSAA), 4. Victoria Forcina & Divya Santhanam- UTS (TDCAA)

High School Mixed Doubles:

1.  Matt Fenerty & Zante Botha - Mother Teresa CSS (WOSSAA), 2. Meg Killeen & Matt Gibbard-McCall - Lawrence Park (TDSSAA), 3. Sarah Harling & Lachlan Carmichael - Lawrence Park (TDSSAA),4. Renee Resendes & Ryan Resendes- Holy Names (SWOSSAA)