Rideau this Week

Wednesday, August 17, 2016



The Registration deadline for this Saturday's Davis Cup is fast approaching!
This year's Davis Cup Tournament for RTC members is being held on Saturday, August 20. Sign up at Member Services before Wednesday, August 17 at 5pm. Thanks to Diana Smith who is kindly organizing the tournament again this year. 



Fee: $20 for round-robin and a BBQ lunch.


Click here to view details (in PDF).



2016 Davis Cup



Steve Stevens Senior National Tennis Championships

The RTC, along with 4 other local clubs, is co-hosting this notable event from Sunday, August 21 to Saturday, August 27, 2016.



There are 460 players participating in this year's tournament. We are expecting 150 players in the age group scheduled at our Club. We are proud to welcome competitors from across the Country. Thank you to our members for your support. We understand that this disrupts your tennis schedule with 8 of the 11 clay courts in use both day and evening (other than Monday, August 22 and Thursday, August 24 when matches end by 6 pm) for tournament purposes. Please come out to watch the competition and enjoy a cold beverage and meal.



Volunteers are still needed for the hospitality desk and the tournament desk. Interested? Please email [email protected].




This week's Thursday Night BBQ Buffet - August 18

Join us on the Upper Deck where we'll be serving up gourmet homemade turkey or beef burgers on the BBQ. Platters served with side of homemade fries or fresh salad for only $10.99. 


Upper Deck railing replacement
We are pleased to share that beginning the week of August 29 contractors will be replacing the Upper Deck railing.  After consultation, structural engineer assessments and contractor proposals we have selected a maintenance free, PVC vinyl railing system that fits the budget to replace the existing wood. This will mean a temporary shut down of the Upper Deck for approximately one (1) week. We will communicate details as they become available.    



Learn about RTC Tennis Camp with Derian Valcourt,  
Club Pro 1 & RTC Summer Tennis Camp Lead Counsellor
While the campers were cooling down with a swim before lunch Derian sat at a picnic table to describe this year's summer tennis camps. Next the campers would head inside for lunch, either brought from home or prepared by Brandon. Tennis activities would resume for the afternoon at 1:30 for an hour. Camp begins early - kids go out to the courts at 9 am.



Today the kids enjoyed two swims because temps were at 32�C. Many days on morning break campers head for the "Field," a 5-minute walk to the park beside the Rideau River, where they play soccer, soccer baseball, Capture the Flag, or British Bulldog. Derian explained that the field games are an extra opportunity for kids to build sports fitness and practice fair play. On Fridays it's Kids-vs-Counselors, and from this "joie de vivre" the counselors have earned nicknames such as Dorito, Big Al and Papa Joe.



Tennis camp at the RTC is for kids between the ages of 4 and 13. The Tykes Camp is for young children who are 4 - 6-years-old, and Fun Camp is for kids 7 - 13. The camp is full - as it was for most of July - when registration reaches 60 with a wait list. The Tykes camp is limited to 20 children, and a max of 40 kids participates in Fun Camp. Many kids return - participating for more than one week, and a few kids have been returning to the RTC tennis camps for several years.



The four to sixes participate in the Active Start Tykes Camp, learning to be physically literate. Kids practice coordination, balance, and spatial awareness. They work at several stations with a different counselor playing active movement games. Marie-Elaine Little (Mel) is lead counselor for the Tykes campers.



The Tennis Fun Camp is for kids between 7 and 13 years. The camp program is the Tennis Canada Tennis Progressive System consisting of three levels of court play, the "red court" with lower nets and with low compression balls (sponge balls), the "orange court," a � court, and "green court" full court with green dot balls. Kids participate with a group of 8 and a counselor.



Every camp counselor has earned a Tennis Canada Instructor Certificate. Derian, with a Club Pro 1 Certificate, is camp lead. Zhenya Kondratovsky, RTC Tennis Head Pro 2 oversees technical aspects of Camp.



The "Magic Tree" is where campers gather every day. At the end of the day the tykes, like tree spirits, have been spotted leaping from stump to stump to stump - a fine expression of the physical skills they are acquiring.



Camp is not just for kids!   
RTC Adult Tennis Camp - August 8 to 11, 2016. 
It was a great week and so much fun! Thanks to the coaching staff, Adrian and Sacha, for making it a great experience for the players. Job well done! Shout out to the fitness coaches: Juliette, Jason and Royaida. The participants worked hard, were sore and are sure to remember you! And most of all - Thanks to the players for being all in and giving it your best shot!



   
RTC Pro-Am and Roman Cup Junior Tournament

Thirty (30) amateurs and sixteen (16) pros representing the RTC, the Elmdale Tennis Club, the Rockliffe Lawn Tennis Club, the Barrhaven Tennis Club, the Tennis Centre West Ottawa and the Ottawa Athletic Club participated in this year's Pro-Am event. We had a very strong group of pros including former ATP player and Davis Cup team member for Syria, Marc Abdelnour; former WTA player, Elisabeth Fournier; and NCAA Division 1 players, Nic Vincent and Aws Laarbi from Toronto.



An exciting part of our annual Pro-Am event is the Silent Auction to raise funds for the Junior Development Fund. Special thank you to the many Pro-Am donors who helped make this year's Silent Auction a huge success including Sheila Copps, James Jefferson of Blackbook Lifestyle, Ontario Tennis Association, Ted Thompson (Yonex), RA Centre, Mood Moss Flowers, Jacobsons, Kelly's Barber, Bread and Roses Bakery, Doug Barkley, Andre and Suzelle Robert, the Krishna Family, Celadon Salon and Spa, Catherine Duff, Bill and Jackie Gelling, Karen Capen, Kunstadt Sports, Pro Physiotherapy and Massage, Molson Coors Canada and the list goes on and on!  A big thank you to Zhenya for all his efforts to recruit pros, encourage players and organize matches as well as to Bill Gelling for organizing the player packages.  We couldn't have done it without you!



This year, in addition to the Silent Auction, a boisterous and competitive Live Auction was run by our pro Sacha Krishna. Both auctions were financially successful and participants were enthusiastic!



Of the sixty items in the silent auction, the one attracting the highest bid - by far - was the two-week stay at Sheila Copps' Penthouse Villa in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.



The second hottest item, buoyed by Sacha's auctioneering skills, was the Dinner For Four hosted by Sacha at Sacha's parents' home. It went for a bid of $400.



The items that were auctioned off in the Live Auction generated more than $600 included:

  • a men's bike donated by Kunstadt Sports;
  • two tickets to an event of one's choosing next season at The National Arts Centre;
  • a weekend, complete with breakfast for two and parking, at the ARC Hotel on Slater Street in downtown Ottawa, and
  • a child's BMW car donated by Otto's Service Centre.

     
When final results are in, it's hoped that totals from 2016 well exceed the $5000 raised in last year's auction.



Roman Cup

The 2016 Roman Cup, an OTA four star tournament and a National Qualifier for the Outdoor Canadian Nationals, attracted over 380 competitors in 18 categories (U10 to U18) representing five provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and P.E.I. with six (6) of the eighteen (18) draws maxing out at 64 players.



Here are the results per category:



BU10 Winner: Nicolas Arsenault (1) def. Cole Michael Thurgur (2) 4-1, 4-0

GU10 Winner: Scarlett Nicholson def. Anastasia Kavounov 4-0, 4-2



BU12 Winner: Spencer Keung (1) def. Tymofiy Khrystyuk (5) 6-4, 6-4

GU12 Winner: Reece Carter (2) def. Kelly Norkor Dowuona (1) 7-6(6), 6-1



BU14 Winner Alessandro Sant'Angelo (2) def. Maxim Mareschal-Hay (1) 6-2, 6-4

GU14 Winner Reece Carter (5) def. Karin Hamilton (1) 6-2, 6-1



BU16 Winner Marvin Pocari (7) def. Antoine Deschamps (4) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1

GU16 Winner Corina Spasojevic (1) def. Kamilla Nella 6-1, 6-1



BU18 Winner Zac Faveri (3) def. Malik Bhatnagar (1) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

GU18 Winner Anna Matia Buraya (3) def. Mya Bui (4) w/o



All the draws, results for boys and girls singles and doubles are available on the Tennis Ontario website.



Among the local players who did well in the Roman Cup were Cole Michael Thurgur, who reached the finals of the BU10, Malik Bhatnagar who reached the finals of the BU18 and Marco Arezina QF of the BU18.

















Meet Jason Rose, Member Services Coordinator, Rideau Tennis Club

(As originally published in the July 2016 edition of the RA News.)



Jason has been serving tennis members at the "Rideau" since 1994. In 2004, the RA purchased the Rideau Tennis Club, and Jason, along with other Rideau staff members, was adopted into the RA family. Jason mentions that after working so many years with a small number of staff, this "extension of the family" is one of his favourite things about working with the RA.



Jason knows what it is to be part of an extended family. Originally from Labrador, Jason has a brother and three nephews here in Ottawa, and a sister, niece and nephew in Labrador. His father is currently living in Newfoundland.



Originally, Jason worked with the property and maintenance staff at the then named "Rideau Tennis and Squash Club" for a little over a year until he assumed the duties of one of the bartenders. After the clubhouse was damaged by fire in 2002, he transitioned to a position within the Member Services division, where he remains today as the Member Services Coordinator.



Jason feels that his job goes well beyond booking courts and taking registrations - "I try to make Members feel at home, make their days easier. They come to us to participate in some sport or activity, to escape their sometimes-daily grind at their place of work."



When asked what sport or activity he enjoys, Jason admits he loves the great Canadian game. "It's Hockey. I grew up in Labrador, so I'm kind of partial to winter. Sadly since suffering a major injury a number of years ago, I haven't played for a very long time."



So next time you see Jason at the Front desk at the Rideau Tennis Club, please take a moment to discuss (or for that matter, generally poke fun at) the current state of his beloved Leafs.

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