Article written by Kamya Shah
With the start of a new season, Philpott offers a wide range of programs that start in the fall and continue during the winter months, allowing kids to build on the skills they learn over the summer and continue to stay active in a sport they love.
Although indoor tennis facilities are relatively scarce in Canada, Philpott has some valuable and generous partners who help us keep kids in the game all year round! In addition to the tennis programming, this year marks the second official year of the Philpott Little Readers program. Learn all about our busy fall and winter schedule below!
First, we have an outdoor fall tennis program at San Romanoway, located in North York, at Jane and Finch, where programming started September 12. We recently ended the 7-week program on October 29. For kids aged 6-17, there were tennis lessons on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Throughout the fall program, we saw kids from our summer program further develop their skills, and noticed lots of improvement in those who were joining for the first time.
Something new we introduced this fall was an adult program, also at the San Romanoway location. This program ran on Fridays, and gave many of the kids’ parents an opportunity to learn tennis as well. Now parents can play with their kids and learn the game together!
From Fall to Winter – it’s time to play Indoors!
While there was an opportunity to continue playing tennis through the fall, it didn’t last too long as the cooler temperatures were inevitable. That is when indoor courts come in! Did you know that only 2% of tennis courts in Canada are indoor/bubbled facilities? In comparison, ice rinks and pools stand at 34% and 37%, respectively. Tennis is a sport that requires more accessible indoor courts, without question, so that everyone who plays and loves the game and keep playing through the winter months. Still, community centres such as Don Montgomery and North York Winter Tennis Club are great partners that give our Philpott participants the opportunity to play indoors.
Philpott offers two indoor tennis programs for kids at those two locations. Don Montgomery kicked off on October 1st, and will run until November 26th every Saturday inside the centre’s gym. Additionally, our partnership with NYTA allows kids to use their bubble for tennis lessons, as well. This program runs in two sessions from September – December, and then from January – April. We’re beyond grateful for these partnerships, because kids get the chance to continue their love of tennis and work on improving from the summer months. What more can we wish for!
Off-Court Programs Kick-off as well!
Along with playing the sport of tennis, there is also the Little Readers program, that runs throughout the school year. This is our second year of running the program, where kids are paired with a “coach reader”, who is usually a high school or university student. The participants, usually aged 5-10, read to their coach online through Zoom, and participate in fun, interactive, and educational games. It’s a great way for the kids to build that social connection with other people, and also learn in the process! The Little Readers program began on September 24th, and will continue for 11 weeks until December break. That’ll be a wrap on the fall session; and then the winter session will resume again in February.
These are many of the programs we run in the fall and winter, and we are happy to see many parents and kids sign up during this time of year!
To view all of our indoor program offerings, visit our Fall/Winter Programs Page at https://philpottchildrenstennis.org/indoor-programs/
