NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA TENNIS CLUB
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What happens when you mix beer, wings, serves and volleys? You get a Draft Party just not the kind from a local brew pub but instead a signal to start an annual event at the Orillia Tennis Club. The OTC held its highly popular Davis Cup tournament for a fourth season this past weekend. It’s a mid-season opportunity for club members to test their skills, engage in friendly competition and to enjoy a great day of tennis fun.
Last Thursday night, the club took over the back room of Kelsey’s to hold its “Draft Party.” Now throw in some friendly ribbing, a huge helping of teasing, some trash talking and claims of early victory and you’d have a good idea of how the Draft Party went along as we formed teams for the upcoming Davis Cup Tournament.
Teams are randomly selected based on their tennis rating level by tournament chair and club President Kevin Smith. Over dinner and drinks, he literally pulls names out of the Cup and teams are drafted live in front of the players. Members slowly shift and gather in the restaurant as teams are formed to cheers and jeers.
“It’s always exciting to hear the oohs and aahs as teams slowly take shape and names are called out. This year I had the task of writing the names under the newly assigned teams.” said Ken Brownlee.
Even as the future teammates carried on, the tennis being the main focus saw the team captains quickly began to work out the logistics even before the tabs circulated.
The Davis Cup Tournament sees four teams of eight players engage in round robin competition. The trick for team captains is to assign different combination of players to play against similarly rated players without knowing who is assigned to each court from the other team – it generates terrific tension and suspense as matches are announced.
Once the big reveal occurs the tennis begins. Each participant is guaranteed nine matches over the course of the day. Each match generates points for the team.
“The excitement over which team leads after each round is always an indication of how much fun the competitors are having this year,“ President Kevin Smith remarked. “They always want me to reveal how each team is doing but I save that for the after-tennis party at Kelsey’s”
The matches were close and the cheers were ringing out bringing excitement to the West Orillia Tennis Courts. One team was running away with the event when suddenly members of the Volleys came from behind and in the final matches claimed a remarkable 10 of a possible 12 points. They missed the championship by a single point.
Once the tennis is done for the day, participants return to our sponsor Kelsey’s for the announcement of the winning team. The team with the highest point total wins the coveted Davis Cup. As an added incentive, this year we had a number of players looking for the opportunity to get their name on the cup for a second time.
Your Orillia Tennis Club knows how to have fun and the sounds from the post event weren’t very different from the Draft night – lots of speculation as to who was going to win.
In the end Tournament Director and Club President Kevin Smith announced the Slammers, captained by Davis Cup Captain/ Champion Peter Koehli as the winning team. Five members of the winning team will see their name on the cup for second time (a first of the club).
The Slammers Davis Cup 2023 Champions included Debbie Sheffield, Linda Alm, Team Capt. Peter Koehli, Dave Stacey, Vera Mader, Bill Langlois, Debbie Hele and Ed Szymanski.
Members of the team have their name engraved on the Cup and the Cup is displayed in the Rotary Place trophy case. This annual event is a great way to not only meet and socialize with members of the club, but also to be involved in some local competition. Clearly this event that features 32 members of the club in a single day event has quickly become a club favourite.
Next up for the Orillia Tennis Club another round of InterClub Play in the Summer Slam Series July 26.
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