Our Very Own Wimbledon

Duncan Road Trip  |  The appeal of Wimbledon is its traditions of all white attire, strawberries and cream, and grass. To many fans and players, it is regarded as the most prestigious and the oldest tennis championship in the world. Although the origins of tennis are not clear, many experts believe lawn tennis was invented by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1873. He was a British army officer. In 1875, lawn tennis was added to The All England Croquet Club activities roster, and hence the name changed to The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club two years later. Wimbledon started in 1877 with only the Gentlemen's Singles being held. The Ladies' Singles was inaugurated in 1884. Now fast forward to 21st century, Venus Williams is already a 5 time champion. Roger Federer may add his 6th on the final Sunday. If you have been watching the entire fortnight of Wimbledon finest, you can bet you will be playing a lot better tennis in the next couple of weeks. This is known as the Wimbledon effect.

Here in British Columbia, we also have our very own 'Wimbledon' to boot. The South Cowichan Lawn Tennis Club over on the Vancouver Island, just on the outskirts of Duncan, can boost it own traditions as well. The club is now the only tennis club in Canada playing on lawn, and is also one of the top 3 oldest tennis clubs in Canada. It was founded in 1887, ten years after lawn tennis was introduced in British Columbia by Chief Justice Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie in Victoria. Two tennis grass courts were build at the beginning. When G.T. Corfield, a member of the club, offered the club the use of a portion of his farmland, six courts were laid out. Now the club has seven grass courts and two hard surface courts. When Corfield died, his will stipulated the club could use the property in perpetuity on one condition - that lawn tennis be played. This unique arrangement made it possible for the continuance of the grass courts through the centuries.

A few tournaments are held on these grass courts annually. These grass courts tournaments are only offered to the juniors and seniors (35 years and over) age groups. The upcoming junior tournament is the Tennis BC sanctioned 20th Annual Grass Court Championship for the challenger division, which is held from July 30 to August 3, 2008. Over the years, this tournament has attracted many juniors players from across the Pacific Northwest, and the level of play have always been strong. The main organizers are Franco and Sheila Biondo, who have ran this tournament from day one, 20 years ago.

This brings me to our second road trip for this year. This is and has been a favourite tournament on our junior program calendar since 1991. Over the years, this Duncan trip had provided lots of good, pleasant and fun memories of summer. Whenever I would bumped into one of our juniors program alumni over the years, this trip has always been brought up in conversations about the wonderful times they had in Duncan. I'm glad it had such an impact on these juniors back then. I have a few of these memories myself. One such memory is in 1993 when we went to Duncan with 39 junior players, 5 instructors, and 7 parents. We all stayed at a boarding school, which was out for the summer. This made it manageable when everyone was in a dormitory style accommodation. I believe we still have the largest contingent ever to descend upon this tournament. In 1993 we made 8 finals and we came back with 4 winner and 4 runner-up trophies and had another 6 semi-final appearances. It will be wonderful if this Duncan road trip tradition continues this year, and it will be my 14th Duncan road trip. There will be a few other activities happening in between matches, if time permits. In the past we have done the go-kart, mini golf, 9 holes golf, bowling and picnic/swimming at Shawnigan Lake. This is our main summer event! This Duncan road trip is open to juniors who are in the intermediate level and up. Entries deadline is July 23 and the trip should finalize by Saturday, July 19.