The legacy of the Estevan 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games tennis competition may be just as important as the games itself.
Two tennis courts at the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) that are in need of repair as well as the two courts at the Estevan Leisure Centre are getting a complete refurbishment early this month in order to bring them up to Summer Games standards. The work at the ECS tennis courts has begun already as the fencing has been repaired, new backboards have been put up and the court surfaces were cleaned.
Nicole Clow, Estevan 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games manager, said a contractor will now be coming to Estevan to grind the cracks in the ECS court surfaces to make sure everything is smooth, patch in those gaps and then fill in the uneven spots to make everything level. Once that is completed the contractor will lay down a resurfacing material before painting in the boundary lines.
Clow said the leisure centre courts will be refurbished right after the ECS work is done. She said the cost of repairing the ECS courts came in at approximately $50,000, which was made possible by a donation from Richardson Foundation giving them the naming rights to the courts for the next 10 years.
The Summer Games tennis competition will run from July 27 to 30 with the first day scheduled for a practice session, the second and third days comprised of round-robin play and the final day being the medal playoffs. All nine districts are expected to compete in the aged 11-14 tournament that will see teams of four girls and four boys try for a medal in either the boy’s singles, girl’s singles, boy’s doubles, girl’s doubles or mixed doubles categories.
Rory Park, executive director of Tennis Saskatchewan, said Team South East will be chosen at a one-day competition in the Energy City later this month, with the exact date dependent on when the renewal of the ECS and the Estevan Leisure Centre courts are complete. He said the provincial organization is trying to recruit interested athletes from schools within the district who have regular access to a tennis court, but acknowledged there is not a lot of tennis activity currently in the southeastern part of the province.
Park said that is where the Summer Games can be a huge boost to the sport. He said the tennis portion of the Games will be a grassroots competition just as it has been in the past, but the infrastructure and interest in the sport it provides will hopefully allow the game to grow.
“That’s what happened over the years,” said Park. “It happened in Yorkton (after the 2000 Summer Games) and the last Games were in Meadow Lake and because of the Games there is a really strong tennis club up there (with) lots of kids playing and some adults playing. That’s what we hope the legacy is. It’s not just kids playing tennis, but a whole community getting excited about tennis.”
