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May 17, 2020
Hello ACTC Members,
We hope everyone is healthy and doing as well as possible in a very challenging time. We were as pleasantly surprised as all of you to learn on Thursday that tennis is part of Ontario's first stage of reopening. We have confirmed with the Town of Aurora that the courts will be open for play on Tuesday, May 19, either in the morning, or in the afternoon, depending on which courts are unlocked first around Aurora.
Tennis Safety Guidelines
Tennis Canada has issued guidelines to support the safe and progressive return to playing tennis, which can be found at their website: https://www.tenniscanada.com/tennis-canada-is-committed-to-support-a-progressive-return-to-playing-tennis/. The Town has advised us that these guidelines are being implemented for all tennis courts in Aurora, as follows:
1. The courts will initially be open for SINGLES play only. Doubles pairs will only be allowed when both players
live in the same home.
2. The clubhouse will remain CLOSED for the time being, and will therefore not yet be available for bathroom
use, refilling water bottles, or hand washing. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own hand sanitizer.
3. Players on each court are asked to use two cans of balls with different numbers or markings so that each
player (or side) can use their own can of balls when it is their turn to serve.
4. Players are asked, as much as possible, to not handle balls when returning them to the player who is serving.
Use your racquet and/or feet to send balls to the player who is serving.
There are quite a few other recommendations in the Tennis Canada documents, and we encourage everyone to read the complete text. A copy of these guidelines will be posted at the courts.
Safety First
We understand how popular doubles play is, and that it will be disappointing to be limited to singles play. We are very hopeful that this will be an initial limitation that can be revisited soon, but we are not sure yet when that will be. The best way to think of it is that maintaining everyone's safety and good health is the first priority in this early phase of returning to play. We should also keep in mind that there are many activities that have not restarted yet, and that we are fortunate that tennis is one of the first to be restarted.
ACTC Programs
The first thing to note is that we are not able to start our Monday and Wednesday house leagues right away. Rather than try to completely change the format of house league, we will remain active in communication with the Town and other local tennis clubs regarding our ability to play regular doubles, and we will be ready to organize both house leagues as soon as it is safe to do so.
Regarding Inter County tennis, we have not yet had an update from the ICTA. We will let everyone know once there has been some communication about the possibility of an Inter County season.
As you would expect, we are not able to hold events at the courts at this time. As a result, the Opening Day scheduled for Sat May 23 is postponed.
ACTC's new pro, Jordan Master is able to begin offering one-on-one private lessons at ACTC. Feel free to contact Jordan directly at jordanmaster@hotmail.com and (416) 802-2268 for more information. A schedule of the times when Jordan will be offering lessons will be posted in the near future.
Registration Reopened
We are pleased to note that on-line registration is now available again at our website (auroratennis.ca), where a manual registration form is also available. If you are interested in house league, feel free to be optimistic and include the extra $15 fee in your registration, as usual. If you would prefer to wait to register for house league, that is fine as well. If we do not end up having a house league season, any $15 house league fees paid will be refunded.
You will notice during registration that the annual fee for 2020 has not been adjusted or prorated. To be up and running in mid-May means we have not really missed too much playing time, especially given the unusually cold weather in the first half of May. Our ability to offer programming is of course constrained initially, but we are hopeful that will evolve in good time.
New Waiver Form
ACTC has always had a short, generic waiver form that members agreed to by default as part of their registration. This year, the risks related to outdoor activities are higher, and as a result, we have an updated and more comprehensive waiver form. We also want to be more thorough this year in collecting signed waiver forms from each member.
After you register, the new waiver form will be e-mailed to you. If you have registered with a Junior, there will be a second form tailored to juniors as well. We will ask that you sign the waiver(s) and return them to us, either by scan and e-mail (if possible), or by regular mail. Having a signed waiver form from each member will be a prerequisite to playing at ACTC this year. Thanks for your cooperation in this regard,
Reminder to be fair with Timely Court Changes
We should also note that the Town will be posting new signs in the near future regarding revised public hours and ACTC's club hours and court change routine. As we get back on the courts, they might be quite busy, and we ask that everyone remember that the standard playing time is one hour, with court changes made on the hour. We also ask everyone to keep a safe distance when waiting for playing time, and during court changes (remembering that there are gates at both Court 1 and Court 3). It is best for players who are finished to leave the courts first, before the next players move onto the courts to begin play.
Above all, we are looking forward to seeing everyone at the courts, in a socially distant manner, of course.
Best regards,
Kevin Gage
on behalf of the Board
News & Announcements
March 28, 2020
Hello ACTC Members,
Despite the uncertainty about the start of our tennis season, we need to plan for ACTC's intercounty teams for 2020. Just before recreation activities were closed, time was reserved at MRTC on Sat April 18 for tryouts for the Ladies B, 55+ and Mixed C teams, with a tryout for Ladies A to follow. We will send out a more detailed e-mail about tryouts once it is clearer when tennis can start.
In the meantime, it would be helpful for each team to know how many players are interested in trying out. This is primarily true of Mixed C. ACTC is allowed to have two Mixed C teams this year, and so we need to know if there is enough interest to support two competitive teams. We also need to know if we have captains and co-captains for both teams. Liz Galluzzo and Linda Graber will co-captain one team, and Phil Huxley is taking a very well-deserved break from this role.
If you are interested in trying out for one or more intercounty teams this year, please respond to the appropriate team captain(s) below:
Ladies A - Joanna Stricker (joannastricker@sympatico.ca)
Ladies B - Nancy Beatty (nancybty@gmail.com)
- Cindi Stewart (cindi.stewart@hotmail.com)
Mixed C - Liz Galluzzo (galluzzo2914@gmail.com)
55+ - David Veitch (celtworks@gmail.com)
It would be very helpful if everyone who is interested could reply sometime this weekend (March 28-29), especially for Mixed C players and hopefully a second Mixed C captain.
Thanks very much
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March 26, 2020
Hello ACTC Members,
Consistent with the current closure of all recreation facilities in Aurora, the Town has confirmed that tennis courts are part of that closure. Given these uncertain circumstances, registration with ACTC will be postponed until further notice. We will contact members individually who have already registered for 2020.
We are of course hopeful that Covid-19 will be stopped soon and recreation activities can return to normal. We will send a separate e-mail regarding our 2020 intercounty teams, and we will keep in touch when there is news about when the courts might open, and when registration can resume. In the meantime, we will continue planning for as normal a season as possible, including hopefully being able to have an Opening Day event on Saturday May 23. If you have any questions, please contact us at: board.actc@gmail.com
We hope everyone remains safe and healthy.
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Hello ACTC Members,
As we get into planning a full 2020 season, there are a number of opportunities for volunteers to participate in ACTC's Board subcommittees. We would look forward to having as many members as possible contribute their time, energy and ideas to help make ACTC a vibrant and inclusive tennis community.
Areas where volunteers would be much appreciated include:
- Opening Day Committee
- Social Committee
- Marketing/Communications Committee
- Facilities Maintenance Committee
Please reply to board.actc@gmail.com to indicate which area(s) you could help out in.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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January 29, 2020
Hello ACTC Members,
As you may have noticed, ACTC's fridge was really on its last legs in 2019, and the Town helped us dispose of it in the Fall.
As a result, ACTC is in need of a new fridge. We thought we would start the fridge replacement process by asking if anyone has a gently used fridge in good working condition that could be donated to ACTC? We can arrange to pick it up. Feel free to keep this in mind in case you might have a fridge that is being replaced over the winter.
Please reply to board.actc@gmail.com if you might have something available.
Thanks very much!
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January 22, 2020
Happy new year ACTC members!
The new Board is planning lots of exciting changes for the 2020 season. We are pleased to announce that Jordan Master will be ACTC's club pro this year. Jordan will provide lessons and clinics for all levels of juniors and adults. Jordan's schedule will be posted in the near future.
We are looking forward to hosting a number of social events this year. For starters, the Opening BBQ will be held on Saturday May 23, 2020, and a schedule of the day's activities will be posted soon.
We hope that you are having a great winter, and we look forward to seeing everyone at ACTC in the Spring.
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November 10, 2019
Greetings ACTC Members,
Following the resignation of Brent MacKinnon, Bill Reid and Andres Marco from ACTC’s Board of Directors, we are pleased to announce that the ACTC members who were nominated for the Board at the Annual Meeting on Fri Sep 27 have been confirmed as ACTC’s new Board of Directors.
Your new ACTC Board of Directors includes the following nine members:
President, Kevin Gage
Vice President, Christine Zarebski
Treasurer, Linda Graber
Secretary, Liz Galluzzo
Facilities, Joanna Stricker
Player Development, Jo-Ann Smith
Social, Lee Wilson and Cyntia Vieira
Tournaments, Paul Jian
We would like to thank everyone for their support throughout the season and at the annual meeting. We are well on the way to planning for next year, and we will look forward to sharing news about what’s in store for next year in the coming months.
We would also like to thank Brent and Bill for their many years of service at ACTC.