The Annual General Meeting of the Ontario Tennis Association was held at Aviva Centre, Toronto on Saturday April 9th. More than hundred representatives of over 50 clubs were present for the meeting. In 2015 the OTA had excellent results in several areas. Rob Nicholls, VP, Finance & Administration, showed how each source of revenue had grown at roughly the same rate over the past 5 years and expenditures in all program areas had grown proportionally. The association had ended the year almost break even but with a small positive net balance of income over expenses.
Ontario junior players had
captured most of the outdoor national championship titles and two Ontario
junior players, Bianca Andreescu (age 15, ITF junior rank #3) and Denis
Shapovalov (age 16) are producing incredible results internationally for their
age in the world junior and for Denis, in the ATP rankings. See separate
article on Denis’ recent successes.
Jim Boyce outlined a new
program launched in 2015, the Freedom 50 program, coordinated by Rick Bertozzi,
to encourage mature adults to take up or return to tennis. Rick is looking to connect interested seniors
in all clubs as ambassadors for the sport and t work cooperatively with these
ambassadors to boost participation in this demographic. Jim also updated the
group on other key tennis promotional projects and on the work of a committee
set up to develop an OTA training centre.
With the increased interest in tennis, the Aviva centre reaching
capacity and with the prospect that the number of commercially operated tennis facilities
is unlikely to grow, the OTA is looking at developing an indoor tennis facility
which can be used for tennis player, coach, official and volunteer development
and be accessible and beneficial to the entire Ontario tennis community. The top priority for the committee is to
identify a viable site for such a centre.
Jim also noted that the OTA
will be celebrating its 100th birthday in 2018 and plans are already
underway to ensure this milestone is celebrated in style. Watch this space for
your opportunity to get involved!
After the formal meetings
presentations were made to Al McGuire, for his contribution to the association
as Chair of Tennis Toronto and participation on the Board and OTA Club
Excallence Awards were made to representatives of three clubs, Barrie (see
photo), Leaside and Thunder Bay for their excellent efforts to build and
support tennis in 2015.
After lunch breakout sessions
were held for clubs to discuss issues of mutual interest and there was the
opportunity for prepared participants to take time on the courts with OTA’s
outreach staff.
Thanks go to Gulshad and the
OTA staff for organizing such an efficient AGM and also to the OTA sponsors who
came to the meeting to keep Club Presidents well informed of the opportunities
they offer. It is a great opportunity for volunteers to meet and share
interests and concerns and for the membership to get lots of information about
the association and what it accomplishes.
