It started as an interesting way to get OTA member Club Presidents
together for an education and feedback session and has turned into an extremely
popular annual tennis executive appreciation event. On the first morning of
main draw play at the Rogers Cup, club presidents are invited to a breakfast
and educational session in the morning and then have day session tickets to
watch the first round matches.
Monday August 10th 2015 saw yet another very successful
OTA Presidents' Day held at the recently renamed Aviva Centre. This year there was a record turnout of 230 participants
representing more than 100 member clubs.
There was a presentation by Mark Healy, Chief Marketing Officer of
Tennis Canada, and a question and answer session with WTA featured
player Sharon Fichman. Sharon grew up in Toronto, she started competing in OTA
tournaments at the age of 7 and has represented Canada in Federation Cup many
times. She is returning to competitive
play at the Rogers Cup playing doubles with Carol Zhao, after 9 months of
rehabilitation and training after surgery. She is currently based in Vancouver
where she is coached by Larry Jurovich.
Six video clips of her question and answer session are
available on the Ontario Tennis Association Facebook page which you can connect
to via the www.tennisontario.com website.
Sharon offered selected participants with photo a photo
opportunity. She is pictured here with members of the executive of the
Intercounty Tennis Association (ICTA). They are, left to right, John
Mowat (ICTA Mixed League Director), Margot Willoughby (Lawrence Park TC), Adrian Cordea (ICTA CIO), Sharon
Fichman (WTA player), Sonja Zibin (Liaison Officer), Adwynna MacKenzie (Ladies
League Director), Rick Bertozzi (ICTA President).
After the presentation attendees got to see Gabriela
Dabrowski of Ottawa play Flavia Penetta on centre court. Gaby, who recently won gold and silver medals
at the Pan Am games in mixed and women’s doubles and who received a wild card
into the main draw of the Rogers Cup, put up a fine display of tennis before falling
to the more experienced and highly ranked Italian, 6-4,6-1.
