THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre is serving up 24 Hours of Tennis this weekend.
The fundraiser, in support of the construction of the Rogers Tennis Dome, will start this Friday at 9 a.m. and run until Saturday at 9 a.m.
It will feature drop-in tennis in the morning, a free 50-plus clinic at noon, an evening social, a prize contest, small tournaments throughout the night and two-hour pickleball timeslots.
While most activities are drop-in, registration has started and participants can register to attend pickleball events during these timeslots after registering for a free user pass online.
“We have done these type (of) events in the past,” said Jamie Grieve, the centre’s tennis director.
“Covid kind of put a damper on them, but we thought this was a great time to get the community out and see the facilities, see the construction going on and know that our air dome…the Rogers Tennis Dome will be up this September.”
Right now, Grieve said they’re pretty fortunate that the grade beam the bubble attaches to was already completed last fall, leaving their contractors, Tom Jones and Bruno’s Contracting, to finish off the base for the tennis court.
“It needs to be asphalted and then after that, the air dome is already purchased, so the bubble manufacturer, Farley Group, is looking to come up the first week of September to have the air dome installed and then we’ll be looking to have tennis going this fall,” said Grieve.
This air dome, he said, will have six indoor courts — one of which will have four permanent pickleball lines.
“In the daytime hours, we’ll be offering pickleball and then for our tennis members, we’re going (to) have programs all year round,” said Grieve.
“So, we’ll have junior programs after school, adult programs in the evenings, some seniors’ programs in the daytime and tournaments and many other things going on in the weekends as well.”
Grieve added that they also still have memberships available and have started their membership campaign.
“We’re already at 300 members of 500 that we’re aiming for,” said Grieve.
Nonetheless, Grieve said they have no expectations for the fundraiser and are trying to get it out in the community that “any and all donations are welcome.”
“We’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of support in the community and we’re just hoping to continue that,” said Grieve.
Already, he explained that they have had many large donations, with fundraising likely close to $300,000.
For those interested in memberships, he added that they can sign up to their website and if interested in contributing to the 24 Hours of Tennis, they can also do so online through an e-transfer with payments on their website.
