THUNDER BAY – Year-round tennis is soon to be reality once again in Thunder Bay.
The Thunder Bay Tennis centre, buoyed by $1 million in provincial money funded through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, plans to install a bubble over six courts that will allow both tennis and pickleball to be played 12 months a year.
It’s fantastic news for the tennis community, said Mark Facca, president of the Thunder Bay Tennis Centre.
“It gives us an opportunity to provide tennis and pickleball 12 months of the year and it gives us the opportunity to increase our programming for both the juniors and the adults. There’s also an opportunity to bring tourism into the community through bigger events, with such a large structure,” Facca said.
Not having an indoor facility for the past several years has hurt, said club vice-president Pasi Pinta on Monday, following an announcement from Minister of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry Greg Rickford on Tuesday, outside an upgraded Fort William Gardens.
“We’ve been looking for an indoor facility for a few years now. For many years we had the privilege of using the bubble at Confederation College. But with the new facility there, and tennis not being a part of that, the search has been on and we’re very excited to now be able to take further steps in getting a new facility for us.”
Facca said the timing couldn’t be better in Canada, where several tennis stars have leapt onto the international stage, led by former U.S. Open champion Bianca Andrescu.
The interest in the sport north of the border is at an all-time high, Facca said.
“I think the timing is phenomenal. I know the last 18 months the world has been thrown upside down, but tennis was one of the few activities that people could participate in. When you see all of our Canadian athletes excelling in the sport and you could pick up a racket, the timing couldn’t have worked out better for us,” he said.
Rickford touted more than $3.3 million in sports related spending by his government, including $934,875 for the Mount Baldy Ski Area to help turn it into a year-round tourist destination, $760,000 for a year-long bike trail network in Trowbridge Forest, $57,671 for an accessible commercial kitchen at Lappe Ski Centre and $551,276 to the City of Thunder Bay to make the aforementioned improvements at the Gardens, a 70-year-old facility slated to host the Scotties Tournament of Hearts early next year.
It’s money well spent, said Rickford.
“This isn’t just money for Thunder Bay to host the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, it’s about legacy infrastructure that’s going to be here for the benefit of others,” Rickford said. “Frankly, the skiing, taking us back to some of our traditions here, the demand is back for downhill skiing. And I’m a big fan of pickleball.”
