Winter Club Serves Up a Christmas Classic

Jody Woods and Lillian Wong catch the spirit at the 2013 WWC
Doubles & Mixed Christmas Classic held on December 18th - 22nd
 at the Winnipeg Winter Club.

By Geoff Kirbyson

Since moving to the third week in December, the last open tournament of the year gives local players away on tennis scholarships a chance to perform in front of friends and family.

This year’s edition of the WWC Doubles & Mixed Christmas Classic didn’t disappoint. And in some cases, it also gave some future college players a chance to show their wares.

Sean Bailey and Alan Gardiner defeated Geoff Kirbyson and Alex Lesiuk in the Men’s Open final, 6-2, 6-2.

Lesiuk didn’t leave the tournament empty-handed, however, as he teamed with Kylie Waschuk to defeat Ainsley Bishop and Peter Otto, 7-5, 6-3 in the Mixed Open final.

The Women’s Open was a round robin event with just three teams. Bishop and Olga Berdynskykh took home the top prize with a 2-0 record, winning 24 games and losing only six.

In Men’s 4.5 action, top seeds Mark Vandal and Todd Vandal defeated Quincy Davis and Souk Xoum, 6-2, 4-6, 10-3.

Sabrina Alano and Reece Carter won the Women’s 4.5 round robin with a record of 3-0. They then faced each other in the Mixed 4.5 final, with Alano partnering with Michael Alano to defeat Carter and Marcello Audino, 6-2, 6-2.

Carolyn Derksen and Al Reinsch won the Mixed 3.5 event, posting a 3-0 record, including a nail-biting victory over Shirley Jones and Allan Mcelroy, 6-2, 3-6, 10-6.

See also...
» 2013 WWC Doubles & Mixed Christmas Classic draw results

Manitobans at 'Little Mo'

Dasha Plekhanova and Reece Carter

When you think of Palm Beach one often thinks vacations. Hold that thought. Now let’s add a tennis tournament and you have the perfect mix of sun, fun, and games.

That may not be what the parents of Reece and Ryan Carter had planned. However, they did return home with some shinny trophies after participating in the Little Mo Internationals, recently held at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Reece won the girls 9's yellow ball doubles with her Canadian partner Dasha Plekhanova for the second year in a row. She also finished 4th overall in a draw of really tough competitors which had players from 32 countries this year.

Ryan, not to be outdone by her older sister, won the girls 8's green consolation. At six years of age, Ryan was the youngest "Mo" at the competition.

See also: 2013 Little Mo Internationals tournament website

Manitoba Juniors Successful in Fargo

Juniors from Winnipeg enjoyed friendly tennis
competition in Fargo, ND. (Photo: Marni Miller) 

The Otto Tennis Academy traveled to Fargo, North Dakota this past weekend to compete in the 4th "Battle of the Borders" tournament.

Courts Plus Tennis Club were gracious hosts and head pro Ryan Meyre along with Peter Otto did an outstanding job in organizing the event. The kids (and parents) had a blast.

Planning is underway for a 5th battle as our U.S. counterparts are looking for revenge on their loss.

Information and group photo provided by Marni Miller.

Community Center Tennis Fundamentals Program

Tennis Manitoba, in partnership with the Corydon Community Center, will be hosting an eight week Tennis FUNdamentals Program which starts January 16th, 2014.

Programs offered are open for all ages - kids and adults:

• Instructions for beginners, Thursdays 6-7pm 
• Instructions for intermediate level, Thursdays 7-8pm 
• Optional - Progressive Tennis League, Wednesdays 7-8pm (starts January 21st)

Instructors for the program are all certified by Tennis Manitoba, and equipment is provided.

Location: Crescentwood Community Center, 1170 Corydon Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

For more information or to register please contact the Corydon Community Center at 204-488-7000 or email office@centralcorydoncc.com.

Mota Helping to Bring Tennis to Morden

By Tennis Canada

Located about 120 kilometres south of Winnipeg, the small community of Morden, Manitoba is home to three outdoor tennis courts. Thanks to Building Tennis Communities (BTC) champion Joaquin Mota, those courts are being put to good use introducing more of the town’s approximately 7,000 residents to the sport.

New to the BTC family as of November 2012, Mota has made great strides. His first task was to simply let people know tennis was available in Morden, which he did through ‘tennis try’ events, including at the town’s block party and at different church events. Now a year into the BTC program, Mota is happy to be involved and focused on his main goals.

“It’s going well so far,” Mota said while attending the 2013 BTC Conference in Toronto last month. “Our vision is to really work on developing a tennis population, but right now, my idea is to really make this available for all the kids – the girls, the boys, and the people with disabilities, so they can enjoy tennis and play tennis for life.”

A tennis fan who moved to Morden five years ago from Mexico City, Mota says he saw the potential of the town’s three tennis courts and wanted to make a difference. While perusing Tennis Canada’s website, he came across the BTC strategy, which provides financial and educational assistance to ‘community champions’ who work on developing quality tennis programming in their own communities.

Mota is now looking ahead at what needs to be done to ensure the continual growth of tennis in Morden and realize his vision, including making the sport available through the cold winter months that lay ahead.

“I think the next step would be a winter program inside the gym and getting more people involved,” Mota said. “And then, moving from only having the BTC support to making a Morden tennis association and developing someone else to take over later on and make it more sustainable as well. Because we are a small community, I think we have more chances to grow because people get more involved and they know each other. So those are my big next steps, but right now I want to concentrate on the winter program to make it great.”

Mota already has about 24 kids interested in the winter program, which will take place in the middle school’s gymnasium.

The future looks bright for the tennis community in Morden, and for Mota, just being able to do his part in offering the sport to the people in his town has been the biggest highlight of his still relatively new experience with the BTC program.

“I think being out there with the community and being able to propose another option of sport to the community is the main achievement so far,” he said. “To the kids who aren’t getting into hockey or the other activities, for them to know this is an option for them to participate in sport – I’m very proud of that.”

For more information about the BTC program and how to join Mota in growing the game of tennis across Canada, please click here.