By Martin Cleary
As Danielle Smith was driving home from one of her shifts as a neonatal intensive care nurse at CHEO, something caught her eye.
She spotted the tennis courts at the nearby Hillcrest High School. But nobody was playing. That was the problem. Nobody could play on the courts because they had become completely unsuitable and embarrassing.
Smith, who understood the game as her three children played tennis at levels ranging from recreational to national, was disgusted to see the four courts looking almost beyond repair.
That picture stayed with her and instead of letting it disappear, Smith took action and started the process to revive the four Hillcrest courts. At that moment in 2003, she created A Love of Tennis, which gained national charitable status nine years later.
Smith met with the then Hillcrest principal to discuss giving the school’s courts a second life. A long-term agreement was reached to clean up the courts and provide a safe, vibrant and accessible venue to bring tennis to youth and adults in the southside community.
She knew how important tennis has been to her children, bringing them confidence, positivity and friendships, and she wanted children and adults of all means to experience tennis, which can be out of the reach for some families because of the cost of equipment, lessons and club membership fees.
“I used to drive by from CHEO and see all the abandoned tennis courts. I needed to start something to fix the courts. I went to the principal and we formed a partnership,” explained Smith, who then applied for and received a $33,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
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“The vines were growing into the front gate and you couldn’t open the gate. The courts were cracked, worse than the roads. I took off 60 bags of debris. This was so sad.”
But Smith, who later received another grant to restore two run-down tennis courts at Ridgemont High School, was all about making this a happy place.
The project to create “safe, welcoming spaces for connection and play” was underway and has been a godsend to about 25,000 youth and adults in Ottawa over the past 23 years.
While Smith quietly put everything in motion with the help of family, a team of certified professionals/instructors and volunteers, outsiders took notice of her important contribution to the community.
Earlier this month, Smith’s significant contribution to the growth of tennis in Ottawa and Canada was recognized, when she travelled to Toronto to receive a Tennis Canada Distinguished Service Award. She was one of 10 people from across the country to be honoured during the National Bank Open presented by Rogers men’s championship.
The award is presented to tennis enthusiasts making a positive impact on the game, who have had a minimum of five years involvement at the national, provincial or community level.
“I had no idea about it. It was a big surprise,” Smith said, when she learned about her award. “It’s really quite exciting. I’m never in this to get awards, but it’s nice to be recognized.”
She shared the award with her family, including daughters Ashley and Jessica and six of her nine grandchildren.
A Love of Tennis is an outdoor program that runs from April until the end of October or possibly November, if the weather co-operates. It has grown to have five female Tennis Canada-certified coaches, four summer students and 30 volunteers.
There are no specific fees for any of the youth or adult programs, but donations are welcome to help cover costs of court maintenance, equipment, insurance and a website at aloveoftennis.org.
As the outdoor tennis season enters its final two months, Smith is ecstatic about this season, which brought the joy of tennis to about 600 to 1,000 youth (ages 5 to 18) and adults every week.
“It has been an amazing year, probably our best,” Smith enthused. “It’s incredible. You can see people are happy and having fun. Women are taking lessons and you wouldn’t believe the laughter, happiness and joy on the court.”
Smith added interest in A Love of Tennis sharply increased after the COVID-19 pandemic as people looked to get outside for fun and activity and deal with loneliness.
A Love of Tennis is well into its third decade and Smith has realized it’s time to restore the courts again, after 20-plus years of tennis and Canadian winters.
The two Ridgemont courts have been resurfaced and Smith hopes two or all four of the Hillcrest courts can be updated as well this year. She also wants to improve the lighting at the Hillcrest courts, add a backboard hitting wall and install an accessible pathway.
The project has an overall budget of about $150,000.
Meanwhile, the Capital Kids recreational community outreach tennis program wrapped up its season on Friday with a summer celebration at Tanglewood Park in Nepean.
The occasion marked the Ontario Tennis Association’s receipt of a provincial grant funded through the Ontario Trillium Foundation and forwarded to Capital Kids to expand accessible youth tennis programs in Ottawa and area.
The Capital Kids program, which was created in 2014, will continue as well as expand because of the three-year, $314,700 grant from the foundation.
The program encourages youth ages 6 to 15 to experience a healthy, active lifestyle through tennis and is delivered in “high-needs, low-income and culturally diverse communities across Ottawa.” Work experience opportunities also are available in the program.
In its 13 years, Capital Kids, which has introduced no-cost tennis to more than 10,000 children who would not otherwise have the opportunity, have operated because of monies from the Ontario Trillium Foundation – a three-year seed grant in 2014, a three-year grow grant in 2018 and a three-year grow grant in 2026.
KAYAKER KEVIN TOBIN ADDS SILVER TO GOLD WORLDS COLLECTION
Ottawa River Canoe Club’s Kevin Tobin came within a few seconds of being a Triple Crown champion at the world senior canoe kayak and paracanoe championships in Poznan, Poland.
After winning the 2 men’s Unified 200-metre with Calgary’s Nikita Ciudin and the KT-1 men’s Special Olympic 200-metre gold medals, Tobin finished second on Friday in the K1 para men’s Special Olympic 200 metres in 56.07 seconds.
Tobin was beaten to the finish line by his nemesis Justus Jonas Guenther of Germany. Guenther finished in 53.97 seconds for a 2.10-second victory over Tobin.
Rideau Canoe Club’s Zoe Wojtyk and Katie Vincent of Mississauga placed eighth in the women’s C2 500-metre A final in 2:06.44. They also were eighth at the 250-metre mark in 1:01.13.
Sophia Jensen of the Cascades Canoe Club surged into the lead of her women’s C1 500-metre semifinal after her first five strokes and never relinquished her leadership. She produced the fastest time of the three semis with a clocking of 2:16.63.
She defeated runner-up Mariya Brovkova of Kazakhstan by 2.68 seconds in their windy semifinal.
On Saturday, Jensen is slated to race the C1 500-metre final and the C1 200-metre semifinal. The C1 200-metre final is slated for Sunday.
Jensen is vying for her first individual gold medal at the world senior championships. At the 2022 worlds in Dartmouth, she helped Canada win the gold medal in the women’s C4 500 metres. She also earned the silver medal in the C1 500 metres at the Dartmouth worlds.
WORLD JUNIOR CANOE CHAMPION ISABEL LOWRY STRIKES GOLD AGAIN AT NATIONALS
Isabel Lowry, a five-time world junior champion, and Abbigail Haines of the Carleton Place Canoe Club struck for gold for the second time as a pair Friday at the Canadian sprint canoe kayak and paracanoe championships at the Rideau Canoe Club.
Lowry, who won two world junior titles earlier this summer and three in 2025, and Haines were first in the U18 women’s C2 500-metre final in two minutes, 9.296 seconds. Earlier, they won the U18 C2 200-metre gold. Lowry’s other gold medal at nationals came in the U18 C1 200 metres.
Teamwork once again helped Alexander Hoferek and Ryan Naroditsky of the Rideau Canoe Club as they posted the fastest time, 1:35.616, in the senior men’s K2 500 metres. Their first gold came earlier this week in the open men’s K2 200 metres.
After earning individual gold medals this week, Rideau’s Maren Bradley and Kate Osborne combined for a first-place finish in the junior women’s K2 500 metres in 1:56.052.
The Eastern Ontario Division’s other medallists from Friday were recorded by:
· Mason Cobb and Daniel Seely, Rideau, U16 men’s K2 500 metres, gold, 1:46.415.
· Mustafa Hussein, Ottawa River Canoe Club, Paddle-All men’s touring K1 200 metres, gold, 1:08.951.
· Temitope Olasupo, Rideau, para men’s KL2 500 metres, gold, 2:26.895.
· Samuel Galazka and Fletcher Sloan, Rideau, Paddle-All men’s K2 200 metres, gold, 51.120.
· Adrian Wells, John Morewood, Reid Sissons-Smith and Samuel Bourdon, Rideau, U16 men’s IC4 500 metres, silver, 2:01.283.
· Ruby Muhl and Kinsley Daniels, Rideau, junior women’s C2 500 metres, silver, 2:14.829.
· George Farnsworth and Riley Taylor, Rideau, U18 men’s K2 500 metres, silver, 1:40.839.
· Keisa Bleiler, Ruby Muhl, Veronica Rumscheidt and Marielle Hawkes, Rideau, junior women’s C4 500 metres, silver, 2:25.300.
· Peter Bradley, Jeffrey Sun, Isaac Finkelstein and Adam Schlosser, Rideau, open men’s IC4 500 metres, silver, 1:42.020.
· Thomas Beauregard, John Graham, Alex Smith and Jacob Price, Rideau, junior men’s C4 1,000 metres, silver, 4:47.056.
· William Bertazzo, Devlin Payne, Luka Ribero and Weylan Stewart, Carleton Place, U16 men’s IC4 500 metres, bronze, 2:02.158.
· Marika Holan-Stutz and Malya Gagnon, Rideau, open women’s Unified K2 200 metres, bronze, 59.361.
· Amelie Beauchamp-Grandmaitre, Rideau, para women’s general K1 500 metres, bronze, 3:11.021.
· Fletcher Sloan, Rideau, Paddle-All men’s touring K1 200 metres, bronze, 1:11.531.
· Mustafa Hussein and Zachary Babin, Ottawa River, Paddle-All men’s K2 200 metres, bronze, 52.549.
· Mason Lowry, Roenn Hodgins, Dyllan Redwood-Wheeler and Aidan Haines, Carleton Place, junior men’s C4 1,000 metres, bronze, 4:48.110.
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
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