At a time when pickleball is the racquet sport making all the noise, a new group has formed to raise the voice of tennis in Port Moody.
Not that the two are rivals, says Chris Law, the president of the Golden Spike Tennis Association.
In fact pickleball and tennis share a common heritage and similar interests so both stand to benefit from organizing on and off the court, said Law. Although the former has been better at it lately, making presentations to local councils to secure facilities and better playing times.
Even with 58 public tennis courts available across the Tri-Cities, it isn’t always easy to get times that are convenient, said Law, who often arranges matches between 6 and 8 a.m. when demand is lower.
“It’s frustrating. Everyone is fighting to figure out when courts are available.”
The squeeze becomes even more acute in the winter months, with only five covered courts available in the area.
Law said organizing Port Moody’s tennis community can be a catalyst to help secure more court times, negotiate alternate models for the allotment of court times, fight for the refurbishment of neglected facilities and maybe even lobby for new ones.
It’s also a way to bring players together to stoke the sport’s grass roots by organizing tournaments, learning from each other and socializing.
“Ideas and plans can grow from there,” said Chris Stannell, another founding member of the Golden Spike group.
Law said tennis is a lifelong sport that can span generations. It’s also relatively inexpensive to get started and for most recreational players, playing for free at public courts is just fine. Plus you don’t need to coordinate a whole team for a match, just a single opponent or even just a backboard to return the ball.
Tennis, like golf, is cerebral, said Law. Players compete as much with themselves to get better as they do against other players.
“Your opponent is just there to gauge your progress,” he said.
“You never tire of trying to get better,” added Stannell.
To help spark Golden Spike’s membership drive, everyone who signs up for free before mid-September is eligible to win a pair of tickets to the Laver Cup that will bring 12 of the best men’s tennis payers in the world to Rogers Arena in Vancouver to face off in a unique team tournament later that month.
The event is a tantalizing glimpse at what’s possible when tennis has strong support at the community level, Law said. After all, most of those players started just like everyone else, batting a ball back and forth with friends at a public court.
“We need to put tennis racquets in the hands of more kids,” Law said. “We can’t just focus on the elite.”
• To learn more about the Golden Spike Tennis Association, check out its website.
