Dear KTC community members,
Ready, set, play...
Early start to the 2022 tennis season
Good news, tennis players! The nets are up on courts 1 through 6, and the online booking system is open! So, get those racquets and tennis gear out of winter storage and join us on the courts for some early spring play.
A big thank you to the volunteers who put up the nets a few days ago, including Doug Bowie, Gary Wilson, Luke Webb, Rick Donaldson, with help from John McFarlane, Yaoting Zhang, Brian Bontekoe and Leo Blondin.
A couple of cautionary notes as spring tennis kicks off:
- The rainy weather of late has hopefully cleared the snow from courts 4, 5 and 6, but they will likely be slippery for the next week or two until it warms up a bit.
- And court 1, right next to the construction site, collects sand and debris from the work being done. A broom is beside the court to clean it off, if needed. If your balls tend to sail away widely from your powerful ground strokes, this is probably not the court for you! Anything hit over the construction fence is a goner.
- Finally, and most importantly, we kindly ask members not to enter the fenced-in construction area at any time.
The club officially opens on Monday, April 25th, and stewards will be on duty as of May 1st. Until that time, there will be no toilet facilities or other member services available on the KTC grounds.
The courts will only be playable during daylight hours - nighttime slots that require lights remain blocked off until the club officially opens. Please remember as well that members, for the time being, are limited to four bookings in a 7-day period, not including lessons or clinics.
Happy playing to all!
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Upcoming important dates:
Thursday, March 31: Last day for Early Bird rates.
Saturday, April 23 (10:30 am - 12:30 pm): We've tentatively scheduled the spring cleaning: putting up windscreens, raking the few remaining leaves, cleaning courts, etc. Join in the cleaning, stay to play! Rain date is Sunday.
Monday, April 25: Opening day.
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Steady progress on clubhouse restoration, but oh, those ... supply chains!
Over the winter months there has been sure and steady progress on the clubhouse renovations. Much work has been completed, including the beautiful much-expanded lower deck with wrap-around wood benches, and the upper veranda construction and new flooring. The interior of the clubhouse has been completely transformed, with much larger change-rooms and a spacious and airy second floor club room. The interior insulation, framing and drywalling are now complete, and even the new shower units have been installed. The steward’s kiosk, which is now located downstairs off the deck so that it’s more accessible and welcoming to members, is also framed in and drywalled.
But as in many other construction projects, global supply chain issues are delaying the arrival of key components and materials needed to complete our project. The main items on back order are windows, doors and glass panels for the veranda and staircase. The exterior Malbec siding has arrived but can’t be installed until the windows are put in. The Anglin team will complete the work they can over the next few weeks, but we will then be in a holding pattern until the final products arrive. The vagaries of the so-called ‘supply chain’ mean that we can’t say with certainty when the new clubhouse will open - but we are likely looking at the end of June or early July.
Nevertheless, we will still have six courts fully operational and will do everything we can to ensure a great playing experience for members.
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New Date for the Tennis Ball - July 9, 2022
With the news of construction delays, the Board has made the decision to move the grand re-opening celebration to our alternate date of July 9, 2022. We have many talented members who have already volunteered to help make this a memorable event.
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Tennis Clubs of Canada/Kingston Racquet Centre
As many of you know, Tennis Clubs of Canada is building a tennis and pickleball facility in east Kingston. Their local name will be the Kingston Racquet Centre and they are predicting a late fall opening.
Since January, the Board's Finance Committee has been negotiating with Tennis Clubs of Canada and their local representative to get the best possible deal for KTC members who want to play at their indoor facility.
Some areas that are being discussed are discounted winter membership fees, summer booking privileges for KTC members (who are not summer members at KRC), overflow tournament space etc.
We hope to have details finalized in the near future.
Congratulations and goodbye to our Camp Director
Congratulations to our own Tristan O'Brien! Tristan has won a prestigious internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm. He may find a time on weekends and evenings to do some coaching, but unfortunately Tristan will no longer be our summer camp director. We are very proud of Tristan as he takes this great step forward on his career path, but he will be sorely missed at the summer camps!
Stay tuned for more news on our search for a new camp director.
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Camp Registration still open!
Still space available in our tennis camps which begin on July 4. We offer full-day camps, as well as afternoon and morning sessions.
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Before and After Care
Before and after camp care is available for an additional charge of $30 per session for either mornings or afternoons (total cost of $60 per session for both morning and afternoon care). Single Day is not available. Morning care begins at 8:00am; afternoon care runs until 5:30pm.
For full details, please check out our Junior Tennis Camps page here.
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New KTC Trash Initiative
When members leave behind empty ball cans and lids, plastic water bottles, even banana peels, either in provided receptacles or courtside, these items don’t magically disappear.
Volunteers - Board and other members - have to dispose of the collected recyclables and garbage, either taking it home to place it out for collection, or to Kingston recycling or landfill.
The burden on volunteers would be greatly reduced if members took home with them what they bring to the club - balls, ball cans and lids, plastic water bottles and food waste.
Through signage at the club and newsletter reminders we hope that all members will participate in this trash & recycling reduction initiative.
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If you have any questions or comments about anything in our newsletter, please feel free to get in touch with us.
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Follow KTC on social media to stay connected
and get the news as it happens!
Kingston Tennis Club is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you’re interested in tennis news on a global scale, tune in each week to Match Point Canada, the official podcast of Tennis Canada.
Membership | Camps
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