RLTC Tournament Report – 2016

RLTC Tournament Report – 2016
2016 was a solid year for tournaments but the level of participation in the ladies single
tournament was disappointing
Nevertheless, the players competed with great enthusiasm and determination seeking to win the A or B
categories. Many matches were exciting to watch and numerous club members turned out to witness
the battles taking place on the courts!
Five senior member’s tournaments and two junior level tournaments were held. The junior level
tournaments were fun to watch for those who attended, including enthusiastic parents and friends. Our
junior program continued to grow in 2016 with the outstanding and dedicated junior pros the club is
lucky to have.
The Tournament committee comprised of Elaine Courteau, Jean-Francois Siroit, Lucie Vincent, Ian
Warren and I had much fun organising the matches including the usual challenge of recruiting
participants. The weather generally cooperated to facilitate our task. A general all together handover
trophy ceremony was held at the closing round robin/BBQ of the club which brought some of the best
crowds of the year to the club. I would recommend that we do this again in future years.
Je souhaite remercier très chaleureusement les membres du comité en particulier Elaine Courteau qui a
pris en charge la gestion du tournoi sur une base quotidienne. En outre, je tiens à exprimer toute ma
gratitude à Lucie Vincent qui m’a si bien remplacé lors de mes absences et envers Jean-Francois Siroit
pour son enthousiasme envers les tournois, pour m’avoir remplacé à pied levé en tant qu’arbitre et pour
avoir si bien balayé les courts en terre battue. Je tiens à également remercier Ian Warren pour tous ses
conseils et son excellente coopération en tant que membre du comité. Finalement, je souhaiterais dire
un grand merci à Gill Kirkwood pour la deuxième chaise d’arbitre évitant ainsi à celui ou celle qui était
l’arbitre de devoir s’étirer le cou outre mesure tout en maintenant son équilibre sur une petite chaise à
hauteur du filet !
A recurring negative point but not much we can do about, was the withdrawal of some players once the
tournaments had started complicating matters. After three years running tournaments at this club, I
have finally come to the conclusion that there isn’t much we can do to avoid this problem..
This year, we ran tournaments in June, August and September. I believe that the timing of the
tournaments was good. I also feel that it was good to move the finals of the singles tournaments during
the day on a Saturday or Sunday therefore avoiding darkness and drawing larger crowds to witness
these matches. I would maintain that approach in future years.
Finally, I would like to recommend that the club host a sixth tournament for members age 55 and over.
Quite frankly, standing across the net and staring at a player that is 30 years younger is not just a major
challenge for some of us but not much fun. Tournaments for Men and ladies for 55 and over would
likely spark a lot of interest from our members whose majority is over that age…
Any feedback will have to be forwarded to the new Board as this is my last year on the RLTC Board.
Following are the results of our tournaments in 2016:
Doubles Dames B / Ladies’ Doubles B : Michèle Lejars & Nadia Freeman
Ladies’ Doubles A / Double Dames A : Maureen Boyd & Lucie Vincent
Doubles hommes B / Men’s Doubles B : Tony Brunst & Marinus Wins
Men’s Doubles A / Doubles Hommes A: Cameron Montgomery & Evan Solomon
Mixed Doubles Champions B : Lynne Lafontaine & Gavin Murphy
Mixed Doubles A : Lucie Vincent & Robert Collette
Simple dames B / Ladies Singles B: Linda Dicaire
Simple dames A: Jackie Douglas
Men’s Singles B: Abdelhaq Benjelloun
Simple hommes A / Men’s Singles A: Cameron Montgomery
Junior Singles/Simples 11 and Under, 11 ans et moins: Noel Hedin
Junior Singles / Simples 12 and Over, 12 ans et plus: Ramin Akhavan
Please join me in congratulating our champions.