Not as many Ottawa children know much about tennis. Here's how a love of tennis changes that.

A group of kids from Vincent Massey Public School gather in front of the practice wall after their lesson.

Kids from Vincent Massey Public school learn to control the ball for the first time during the warm up.

Children engage in the "alley rally" activity, where each of them try to bounce the ball to their partner within the double's alley.

Coaches teach the children how to alley rally.

One group of kids line up on the double's line, awaiting instructions for the next activity.

It's past noon at the Hillcrest courts and the last group of 20 to 40 middle schoolers line up at the double's line in the Monday heat. Up to half the crowd on average raise their hands when asked how many played tennis before. 

"I play tennis with my family," some say. "I play at the public courts near where I live," another exclaims. 

Names like Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are thrown around as kids nod their heads at the question: do you know of any famous players?

In the Alta Vista community, quite a few children claim to have basic tennis knowledge or experience, but how many children throughout the rest of the city can say the same? The short answer: not so many. 

Anna, teacher at Vincent Massey Public School and a former participant in the women's intermediate category, had her class participate in A Love of Tennis' school program, a program where during times outside of their regular scheduling, the organization provides free courtside tennis lessons for children attending nearby schools, with the help of the public's donations. The program introduces kids to tennis during gym class hours. 

Anna explained how a number of the children she teaches were not aware of nearby public tennis courts, particularly the Hillcrest courts they were walking to, even with a portion of them claiming to have experience. 

"They thought we were going on a bus, for example," she said. 

"So now (after participating in the school program) they know the courts are right here." 

Their lack of knowledge of existing tennis spaces makes sense. According to the City of Ottawa's website detailing clubs and partnerships for sports and fitness, only 15 dedicated tennis clubs exist in the city, with 13 of them being seasonal outdoor facilities and merely two being indoor. The Ottawa Athletic Club, a well-known indoor tennis and athletics club for over 40 years, closed down for good after COVID. 

Whereas in cities like Toronto and Montreal, dedicated clubs total up to 70 and 80 respectively. 

Anna explained why she wanted her class to participate in A Love of Tennis' school program, one of very few grassroots initiatives for tennis in the country. 

"I thought it would be a nice opportunity for them to be introduced to a sport that they may not have the opportunity to play," she said, admiring how A Love of tennis enables children to get a chance at playing the sport; an excellent way to introduce more kids to tennis, a sport not known for being economical. 

She recounted when she went in to enroll her son into private tennis lessons and the price was exponential. 

"I recently brought in my son for an assessment at a different club and it's a big consideration because of the price," she said, citing how up to $2000 of annual investment can be required to pay for lessons. 

So, the reason as to why not as many children in Ottawa play tennis may be because of the financial barrier, but is there more to it than just monetary obstacles?

Anna noticed how big tournaments like the National Bank Open are not as popular when compared to other sporting events in the city, possibly hinting to a lack of tennis promotion. 

"Because it's so close for people in Ottawa to go (...) but people don't think to do that," mentioning how the tournament's Montreal location is not usually frequented by Ottawans. 

She also cited other reasons.  

"I find that it's not as accessible to watch, " she said. 

"You have to have certain channels you need to pay for in order to be able to access those games and a lot of the local sports pubs and bars won't put on matches unless you ask them directly." 

Considering these reasons for a lack of youth tennis involvement in Ottawa, the question is how can these obstacles be combatted? The answer is: it starts with exposure. 

Without being introduced to the sport first, children wouldn't know how much they could be enjoying it. 

For some kids on the court, tennis was a first-time encounter. While some groups started out saying tennis was "ok" or was believed to be hard, many later went on to practice bouncing orange balls on borrowed racquets well after sessions ended. 

When asked after the lesson what they thought about tennis, many children said "it was more fun than I thought."