2025 Season Welcome Update
March 19th, 2025
Dear Members,
Welcome (or welcome back!) to another sellout new season at the York Old Mill Tennis Club! Thank you for taking the time to digest important updates in this email. Read time is 2-3 minutes.
2025 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Your Board of Directors was recently elected at the March 5th Annual General Meeting, with the following composition:
Vince Cooney - President
Mark Benesh - IT Director
Brent Ross - Communications Director
Ahmed Moostofa - Membership Director
Heather McCourt - Social Director
Melissa Ogilvie-McKinley - Secretary
Dhawal Goyal - Treasurer
Tanya Schoen - Operations Director
Each of us is excited to get the new year started and we wanted to bring you up to date on a few important matters.
CLUB CLEAN UP DAY
We will hold the court clean up on the morning of Saturday April 26 (Sunday April 27 rain date). It's a great opportunity to come by the club, to catch up with friends, or for our new members -- to make a new one! Whatever time you can spare will be rewarded with the finest pastries, cookies, tea, coffee, and fizzy water that is available from local merchants, all cheerily delivered in part by Vince's seven-year old (who takes a Timbit commission). One and all are welcome, and it will be family friendly with no RSVP required. Mark your calendars and help us help each other make light work of it!
CLUB OPENING AND EVENT
Should all go to plan, courts will become available for advance booking with our 'soft opening' on April 28. We also plan to hold a social event and fun round robin welcoming members new and returning on Saturday May 3 (Sunday May 4 rain date). Light refreshments and partner matching rotating doubles play will be provided. All of this is contingent on receiving the operating permit from the city in a timely manner, which we do expect. Should anything change, we will let you know.
CLUB TEAMS, COMPETITIVE, AND SOCIAL PROGRAMMING IN 2025
The second important piece of news is that the Club will have two Intercounty teams for the 2025 season on a pilot basis: B-Mixed in the High Park Division commencing play on May 13 (alternating Tuesday evenings), and C-Mixed in the High Park Division commencing play on May 15 (alternating Thursday evenings).
Exact schedules will be shared on our website once available. The teams decision was arrived at by the Board after in depth discussion with a 7-1 vote in favour taking all factors into account, including the recent surveys, court utilization statistics presented at the AGM, assessment of demand necessary to field and manage teams, and a desire to provide broader access to competitive play opportunities at appropriate levels. It is anticipated that the impact on court availability will be minimal given several other clubs in the area of similar size have even more teams and continue to service their members well. We will be contacting those who have captained teams in the past or expressed an interest in the survey. You can reply to this email if you want to register your interest in captaining.
Information on established programs including the competitive ladder and other organized social play programs such as the Wednesday night and Friday morning round robins will follow closer to the season. The Club Championships will again take place at the end of summer. Information regarding junior tournament dates will be available in-season. The club expresses preferred dates, and indicates later in summer which tend to have lower member court utilization numbers.
ADULT CLINICS AND ADULT LESSONS
At the AGM, we noted early summer camp signup release, but there were questions about when adult programming would be available. Information related to adult clinics, junior programs, and summer camps have been posted at http://www.oldmilltennis.com. We will be following up shortly with more details from Coach Marta about all available coaching programs. To reach Marta and her staff about shaking the rust off or adding a shot to your game, please email: coaching@oldmilltennis.com.
CHANGE TO CLUB PUBLIC HOURS
Starting this season, public hours will be from 5pm to close on Sunday night, instead of the customary Saturday. We concluded this will allow the club greater flexibility, in particular the ability to host events, e.g. wine and cheese, movie nights, etc. on Saturday evenings at the club. It will also allow for less disruptive hosting of junior tournaments. (Longer member hours Saturday means we can protect more courts for members prime-time Saturday mornings from 8-10am before the sun beats down, instead of only 8am-9am on tournament days.) Thank you again for your ongoing support.
We look forward to seeing you at the courts!
Regards, Your Board of Directors
President's Mid-Winter Update
January 28, 2025
Hello YOMTC members,
With the snow-covered ground and cars creaking and squealing under the pressure of the cold, tennis is probably not on your mind. But whatever the season and conditions, your Board is always thinking tennis. With that, we have some important updates we wanted to share, especially for the planners in the family.
2025 CLUB PRO - Marta Chytchian
The Board voted unanimously in support of a return from our 2024 Club Pro, Marta Chytchian. Thank you to all members and parents who provided feedback. We are pleased to announce that Marta has accepted and we extend a warm welcome for the 2025 season. We are excited to build on last season, and to build on our tennis community leveraging additional communication channels.
JUNIOR SUMMER CAMPS
For community inclusion, participation, and growing the game of tennis, Junior Summer Camp spots are available to members AND non-members in 2025. Camp spot **reservations** are NOW AVAILABLE on the website to members and non-members at: https://www.oldmilltennis.com/summer-camps.
**Payment** for summer camps will be addressed following the member renewal and registration period. Non-members will pay a nominal additional fee per camp week. Non-members will be required to complete a waiver on our website.
Reservation of spots is being offered considerably earlier than prior years due to member feedback, to assist members in planning their summer activities, to be more competitive with other club and summer camp offerings, and to provide greater certainty for parents and guardians. We hope these are welcome changes, and please let other tennis families in your area know about these inclusive changes and chances to spend a couple weeks together on court chasing fuzzy yellow (or red, or orange) balls.
To provide ease in the registration process, the Board has discontinued the Junior "program membership" and fee which was required to register for camps. Registration for Adult Clinics and Junior after school programs will begin after the membership renewals process has concluded.
Camp Dates:
Week 1 (June 30, July 2 - July 4) *4 days
Week 2 (July 7 - July 11)
Week 3 (July 14 - July 18)
Week 4 (July 21 - July 25)
Week 5 (July 28 - August 1)
Week 6 (August 5 - August 8) *4 days
Week 7 (August 11 - August 15)
Week 8 (August 18 - August 22)
Week 9 (August 25 - August 29)
Weekly Camps
(Monday - Friday) 9-4 pm (Full-Day) $390+HST**
9-12 pm or 1 pm - 4 pm (Half Day) $270+HST**
4 day camp weeks have pro-rated fees.
**Camp rates for junior non-members will include a 5% surcharge.
Half Day participants have the option to stay for the supervised 12-1pm lunch break.
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Complete details and forms available on our website:
https://www.oldmilltennis.com/summer-camps.
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Please contact coaching@oldmilltennis.com with any questions about camp offerings.
AGM - MARCH 5, 2025 - SAVE THE DATE
The YOMTC Annual General Meeting will be held on March 5, 2025 in the evening at the Old Mill Hotel and Spa. This email is a save the date, and not official 'notice of meeting'.
The Notice of AGM and meeting package including Director reports will be provided in advance by Brent Ross, Communications Director (info@oldmilltennis.com) in coordination with Melissa Ogilvie-McKinley as part of the formal notice of Annual General Meeting, and consistent with club by-laws.
We received inquiries regarding production of the 2023 Audited Financial Statements (AFS) at the By-Laws Special Meeting in September 2024. 2023 AFS may be retrieved by any member by logging in to the member's portal and clicking through to the "AGM minutes" section. The 2024 AFS are being prepared by our auditors with documentation support from our Treasurer and Secretary.
The 2023 AFS were not approved at the annual meeting held on February 27, 2024. 2023 and 2024 financial statements will be included on the agenda for the March 5 meeting.
MEMBER RENEWALS
2024 members will be able to renew their membership from February 15 to March 8, 2025. This is the protected window members have to secure their spot for the 2025 season. After such time has elapsed, any available memberships will be offered to the waitlist. If you have not renewed your membership by March 8, 2025, you will need to join the waitlist to join YOMTC in the future. We encourage you to address your renewal(s) as promptly as possible as opposed to making this process more exciting or disappointing than necessary. Please note that the current waitlist is over 1000 people and member retention rates from past seasons have often exceeded 80%.
***Note: In previous years renewals have always occurred after the AGM. However, the AGM is scheduled a couple weeks later than usual this year, so we have decided to open renewals beforehand. Waitlist invitations will occur after this year's AGM so there will be no possibility of new members attending the AGM, which is only open to 2024 members.***
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COMPETITIVE PLAY
After a tough 2024 season featuring a lot of close contests, at present, YOMTC has been included for play in the Intercounty Tennis Association (ICTA) Thursday Evening "C" High Park Division. We wanted to advise of this planned change to competitive play to allow 2024 "B" team members to consider their options, and likewise to signal a different level of play which may provide intrigue to a broader set of YOMTC members that would not otherwise try out.
Please contact president@oldmilltennis.com with any questions about teams and divisions.
CONTRIBUTING TO A VIBRANT CLUB ATMOSPHERE
Our tennis community at YOMTC is truly what we decide to make of it. It is manifested through our individual and collective actions and intentions. I know we can rely on each and every one of you to do your part to contribute to positive club vibes and energy this coming season, and finding ways to contribute and socialize at the club before and after play and at social events. We are happy to receive new and interesting ideas for events, equipment, facilities, socials, or anything else that would enhance the member experience and our tight-knit tennis community by the river.
We look forward to welcoming you back to the club and seeing you on and around the courts in 2025.
Stay warm, and stay safe,
Vince Cooney, and your YOMTC Board of Directors
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