Fed Cup History

What a privilege it was to be able to attend the exciting Fed Cup matches in beautiful Quebec City over Easter weekend. The purpose of attending was not only to witness history in the making, but to give the Council of Provinces (COP) a chance to meet new Tennis Canada President Kelly Murumets and spend some quality time discussing priorities and challenges.

First, the matches. Even though Slovakia's A Team failed to participate, it was far from a slam-dunk affair. First match up on the Saturday had Alex Wozniak pitted against fast-rising Jana Cepelova. Admittedly, Alex was likely not the favourite to win this match, but she somehow found a way to pull it off in three sets with some ugly turns and twists along the way. My wife and I were seated at court level at one end of the PEPS stadium on Laval University campus. I could almost reach out and touch the players we were that close. Throughout the match we were simultaneously cheering and bowing our heads in disbelief of a shot gone bad. But a win is a win, and kudos to Alex for digging deep when it mattered.



Fed Cup Team celebrate victory!

The second match with our feature player Genie Bouchard against Kristina Kucova, was an equally tough battle. Genie herself admitted her game was off and she was struggling at times. You could see it in her mannerisms, frustration in her face, tossing her towel wildly at times to the ball kids. She felt like the underdog, but that's when Genie seems to raise her game up a notch, and that she did to finish out the match and put Canada up 2 to 0 on Day 1.

Our Canadian team is now among the elite 8 world group in Fed Cup with a chance to go all the way in 2015. We had an almost sold-out stadium over the weekend (3k per day). We also had national TV coverage with SportsNet and TVA along with local and national newspaper coverage, all great at growing the game and building momentum and star power.

COP Meet Kelly



Council of Provinces meets during Fed Cup, shown here with TC President Kelly Murumets


Now it wasn't all fun and games for the COP. Friday evening and Saturday morning gave us all a chance to meet the lady behind an organization that continues to build its reputation and visibility on the world tennis stage. If you watch Kelly's latest interview with SportsNet, you will note she already has very clear ideas about where Tennis Canada needs to head going forward. In person, Kelly is very affable, warm and inviting and you can tell she is also a very astute business woman. I and the rest of the COP feel she very much embraces the partnership mentality with the provinces and will stay very engaged as we look to close gaps, promote transparency and understanding, improve the competitive structure and opportunities for young players, and build tennis participation across Canada.



Fed Cup Team Loves the OTA!



Sneak Peek at 2014 Priorities

On behalf of the OTA board and staff I wish you a Happy New Year! With any new year comes the desire to reflect on our successes and challenges in the past year, while looking forward to new goals in the coming year.

If you recall last year's OT Magazine Yearbook review, I spoke about the completion of OTA's four-year Strategic Plan. I also wrote a three-part-series (March, April, May 2013) in my President's Blog providing more detail on how the OTA will translate that plan into more specific programs and steps necessary to meet those expectations.

For the upcoming Yearbook review I will cover a number of Strat Plan highlights from 2013 covering each of the four goals in that plan. Many of them, such as the new ranking system implementation and the piloting of the new "Raise the Net" program for community clubs, will carry over into 2014 and directly benefit competitive players and member clubs. Please watch out for that edition coming out in late February.

To kick off this year, let me review a few priorities our board and staff will be working on your behalf.


GOAL #1: Attract More People to Play and Support Tennis on a Sustained Basis

• Work has begun on the development of OTA's digital strategy with the goal of identifying some key priorities that can be implemented over the coming years and includes improved use of website with improved content, targeted use of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, more video content (OTA TV) and the development of an OTA mobile app for access to apps like the OTA Club Card and the new Ranking & Tournament Management System.
• The Club Connection news releases which first began in June of 2012 are published six times a year and are packed with useful information for member clubs. Look for the first 2014 edition coming out shortly with a link to the new OTA Raise the Net online resource centre.
• By having our regional committees work with municipal park and rec staff, we expect progress to be made on updating and improving the Tennis Club Policies for both Toronto (including Scarborough and North York) and Markham. This will benefit all clubs operating in those cities.
• Further develop and expand our club member base in the Ottawa region by delivering more programming that directly benefits the clubs (eg: Raise the Net, Little Aces). As well, our STF region will have an official Little Aces launch this year. The OTA has also submitted an application through Trillium's regional stream for Capital Kids, an Ottawa-based project aiming to broaden access to tennis by providing cost-free tennis lessons for 8500 kids over 4 years.
• The OTA will partner with Wilmington Tennis to deliver The Sunshine Project, which will provide 900 elementary students in the northwest region of Toronto with subsidized tennis lessons. Thanks to the Ontario Trillium  Foundation for funding this project over 3 years

GOAL #2: Provide opportunities for players to improve at every level

• Go live with the new provincial ranking system and tournament management system in the April timeframe
• Increased member club participation for Year 2 of the U9 Champions program
• Continue to grow and maintain and active competitive structure. In 2013 there were over 2200 registered players
• Continue to grow and maintain high level coaching certification training. In 2013, 223 people took the instructor course alone

GOAL #3 & 4: Encourage and support volunteerism at the provincial, regional and local levels. Ensure accountability and relevancy of OTA programs and services

• We encourage all member clubs to send representatives to the OTA's 2013 AGM to be held on Saturday, April 12, 2014 at the Rexall Centre player's lounge. Along with the business portion of the meeting, we will be having our official launch of the Raise the Net program and provide details in the form of a group breakout session. Stay tuned for more information. Highlights of last year's AGM can be viewed on YouTube
• Our volunteer policy along with background check guidelines will be published this year and will be made available to member clubs
• Recognizing volunteers in our community continues to be a top priority. Clubs can call the office directly to get award certificates printed to present to club volunteers in recognition of their outstanding contributions. As well, Distinguished Service Award applications will be accepted until the end of April, so please take the time to submit your special candidate. If chosen, they, with close family and friends by their side, will be honoured at a banquet in October at the Toronto Cricket Club. Highlights of last year's event can be viewed on YouTube
• The Council of Provinces (COP), of which OTA is a member, will continue to work co-operatively with Tennis Canada to align our plans and programs for the betterment of tennis across Canada. With the recent announcement of TC's new CEO, Kelly Murumets, we at the OTA are especially excited about the new opportunities that lie ahead for both organizations.