Thursday, 15 May 2014

Tennis Manitoba’s Junior Nationals Selection Eligibility, Process and Policy Updates

Eligibility 
In order to represent Manitoba as a member of Team Prairies at the Rogers Junior National Championships, a junior must be a Canadian citizen and/or permanent resident of Manitoba and compete in a minimum of two Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour tournaments in their age category during the past 52 weeks (which includes Regionals). Students attending school out of province are eligible assuming they meet the residence criteria. In addition, a junior must be in good standing with Tennis Manitoba (membership, financial, discipline, etc.).

Process and Policy
Tennis Manitoba (TM) will use the new Tennis Canada national ranking system to determine provincial rankings to select juniors to represent Manitoba to compete with Saskatchewan in a Prairies Qualifier (Regionals) for the opportunity to participate at the Rogers Junior National Championships. 

Manitoba’s top four juniors of each age category and gender may have the opportunity to participate in the indoor and outdoor Regionals, where Tennis Manitoba reserves the right to appoint one selection due to exceptional circumstances as well as limit participation to only the top eight ranked juniors for each age category / gender.

Draws at Regionals will contain up to eight juniors, with participating provinces having the opportunity to increase provincial representation to fill the draws.

Wildcards for Regionals may be granted only for extraordinary circumstances. If a junior desires to compete for a Nationals spot and has extraordinary circumstances such that they were not able to participate in sufficient TM sanctioned junior tournaments within their desired age category and/or has a competitive justification for the request, they must notify TM of these in writing thirty (30) days prior to Regionals to be considered for a wildcard.

2014 Outdoor Regionals
Outdoor Regionals selections will use a cut off date of July 20, 2014, which is one day after the completion of the Deer Lodge Jr Classic.

2015 Indoor Regionals
Indoor Regionals selections will use a cut off date of one day after the completion of the 2015 Winnipeg Winter Club Junior Open (January 2015 dates to be determined).

TM reserves the right to make reasonable discretionary decisions toward the goals of and in concert with the policy regarding issues unforeseen within the policy as it currently stands.

Policy updates and TM sanctioned junior tournament schedule and results will be posted at Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour.

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Community centers spring into tennis programming

Tennis Manitoba has partnered with Winnipeg area community
centers to offer beginner, intermediate and exercise programs.

Looking to play more tennis at a community center near you? 

Several community centers in Winnipeg have partnered with Tennis Manitoba this spring to offer a variety of tennis programs for various ages and skill levels. Whether you have played before, are looking to improve your game, or just want some fun exercise, there is a program for you.

The spring evening sessions start the second week in May and run for eight weeks. The program fee is $60, where participants can choose from beginner or intermediate FUNdamentals programs, or take part in Cardio tennis to get a high energy aerobic workout. 

Participating locations include Corydon Community Centre, Linden Woods Community Centre, Notre Dame Community Centre, Riverview Community Centre, Valley Gardens Community Centre, and Windsor Community Centre. 

For additional information visit tennismanitoba.com/community/communitycenters.html 

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

April College Tennis Recap

Here is a college tennis update on Manitoba student athletes currently playing in the U.S. as part of NCAA programs.

Feel free to share, like, retweet, favorite or add comment to show your support.































Get more Manitoba student-athlete #CollegeTennis updates on Twitter.

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Clinic introduces elementary students to tennis

Carman Elementary students enjoyed their introductory tennis lessons from Tennis Manitoba instructor Marlon Goldburn. Here, he talks to them about safety and the importance of not waving your racket around when you don't need to.

Courtesty of Emily Distefano, The Carman Valley Leader

Carman Elementary School students were treated to a 2-day tennis clinic last week.

CES’s physical education specialist Gordon Stobbe found out through Tennis Manitoba that they were offering school clinics as a way to introduce grassroots tennis to communities, and he thought it would be a great opportunity for Carman kids.

“I think that tennis can be a lifetime sport and it’s a great way for kids just to try a new skill,” he said. “We’ve got wonderful tennis courts that we don’t see an awful lot of kids on, so maybe this will be a seed-planting opportunity.”

Marlon Goldburn, a community development manager at Tennis Manitoba, came out on April 15 and 16 to teach students in grade one through six the fundamentals of the game.

“My goal in going around to communities like this is to plant that seed, to do my part for the Sport for Life model and add another notch of physical literacy to the kids’ knowledge base. And to help grow the general tennis population,” he said.

Progressive tennis model

He explained that Tennis Manitoba uses a progressive tennis model that includes modified equipment like smaller rackets, low-bounce balls, and mini nets.

“Fortunately for kids in this era, there is what we call progressive tennis equipment, like balls that bounce slower,” he said. “So they allow the kids to get to them and they’re not just hitting a green ball that a pro would use and spending half a day chasing it. It’s more constructive play.”

As players learn more skills, they can move up to more advanced equipment.

Stobbe would like to make the tennis clinic an annual event, and he is planning to add tennis to the physical education curriculum at CES next year.

“I want to add a tennis unit based on age and appropriateness and we want to have more tennis lessons introduced into our physical education curriculum,” he said.

He noted that Sport Manitoba provided some of the funding for the clinic, and the Manitoba Phys. Ed. Teachers Association gave the school a grant for some extra equipment.

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Waschuk named to All-GLVC squad

Evann Waschuk of the Bellarmine University women's tennis
 team was named to the Great Lakes Valley Conference
All-Conference Team.

By Bellarmine University

ST. LOUIS--The Great Lakes Valley Conference announced its annual awards tonight at the GLVC Tennis Championship banquet on Thursday night, and Bellarmine women's tennis player Evann Waschuk was named to the All-Conference Team. The 16-member All-GLVC squad combines eight individuals from the East and West divisions.

Waschuk, a junior from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, put together an impressive resume during the 2013-14 regular season when she went 10-4 in singles and teamed with Michelle McFerran to post a 9-4 record in doubles.

Bellarmine opens GLVC Championship play Friday at noon as the No. 3 seed from the East and they will play Missouri-St. Louis, the West's No. 2 seed.

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Norwood Kids Team Tennis

Norwood Kids Team Tennis starts this May at the
Norwood Community Center in Winnipeg, MB.
The Norwood Community Center will be running a spring and fall team tennis program for kids aged 7 years of age up to 14 years old. The program takes place Monday evenings and starts early May, and runs until the end of June, then will recommence in September.

The program is specifically designed to introduce kids to playing tennis in a ‘learn to play – play to learn’ environment and is open to all levels of players. Modified equipment, including smaller racquets, larger balls and smaller court area will be used to help kids progress.

The program fee is only $40, and includes a cool T-shirt and some other goodies. For additional details, please contact Brian Pound at (204) 231-3383 or at bripou@shaw.ca.


Thursday, 10 April 2014

Norwood Wheelchair Tennis Program


Tennis Manitoba along with Manitoba Wheelchair Sport Association will be hosting a wheelchair program for kids and adults at the Norwood Community Center. The program runs on Thursday evenings from 6:30 - 7pm, starting May 15th.

If you are interested in the wheelchair tennis program, or know someone that is, please contact Tennis Manitoba at (204) 925-5660 or info@tennismanitoba.com for additional details.