Friday, July 12, 2013

Rainy Days of Summer

No summer is the same, and this year we are being teased with hot, humid weather interspersed with downright heavy rainfall and monsoon flooding. My lawn and garden still look great, especially for this time of year, but the interruptions on the court have been frustrating at times, yet did not put a damper on some of this summer's highlights so far:

Cleves
Let's start with my trip to one of my favourite summer vacation spots, Clevelands House. Every year at the end of June they hold a special "Super Camp Tennis Week" for anyone interested in polishing their game and getting a great workout. This year, new tennis director Gary Ingram, did not disappoint the 12-16 who attended the week. My wife and I love to go because we see many of the same faces year after year and it gives us a chance to catch up and enjoy the social time, the tennis time and the great food. From the Monday to the Sunday we had about 26 hours of instruction and doubles round-robin time on the court. Every aspect of our game was covered, from doubles strategy to volleys, overheads, forehands, backhands and serves. Many thanks go out to Gary and his guest pros Mark, Eric, Maddy and Milena for putting together such a great combination of exercises and drills and fun round robins over the week. Luckily the rain didn't cause too much of a problem.


Cleves Tennis Bootcamp Group


Junior Provincials at Kew
Another successful close to the annual Junior Outdoor Provincials held across various sites from Jun 24 to July 6. I was one of four officials roving the courts for the U12 and U16 age groups at Kew Gardens for the second week of matches, and I always enjoy seeing the new up-and-coming faces of tennis at the U12 level and of course all the familiar players in the U16 category. This tournament is one of the toughest to officiate because the days are typically long (8am start, 5-6pm finish) and the temperatures are very hot. Standing on court for 8 hours a day in 30C+ weather is no picnic, and if you're one of the players, a two-hour match can be brutal. We did get some reprieve on Thursday and Friday, as the rain set in and we headed for Veneto an Mayfair Parkway to complete many of the matches. Congratulations to all the players for participating and being so well behaved!

Cooper Challenge
If you've never been to the Waterloo Tennis Club, I highly recommend a visit in the near future. My wife and I ventured out that way on July 7 to see some of the final round action on centre court. The club is beautiful, with 6 Har-Tru clay courts and a permanent bubble housing another 6 hardcourts, with a quaint balcony overlooking centre court. It was our first time there, having been invited by our new friends Ken and Norah Rae, who are one of a number of Gold sponsors for the event. It has grown over the years to a $50K ITF Pro Circuit event, thanks to the support of all the sponsors. The rain threatened to delay the match that morning, so the final was started earlier at 11am, but once finished, the sun came out for the early afternoon and then heavy storms came in later that afternoon. Unfortunately, Sharon Fichman, who has won the last two years, lost in the semis to fellow Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski. Gabriela gave it her all in the finals but was no match for #2 seed Julia Glushko of Israel.
View from the Balcony