The Red Deer Tennis Club will honour members who have died during the Thelma Smith Memorial Tournament next month.
The club will host the 11th annual edition of the tournament Sept. 17 at its facility located at 4501 47A Ave., just beside the Red Deer Recreation Centre. The event wasn’t held the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thelma Smith, a longtime Red Deer tennis player, left a legacy worth remembering, said Mary Gardiner, who organizes the tournament and was a longtime Red Deer Tennis Club board member.
“She was passionate and very involved in the tennis club. She was president twice and was active in all of the events,” said Gardiner.
“When she died, we decided we needed to honour her in some way, so we created the Thelma Smith Memorial Tournament. Then the board decided each year, the tournament would be in her name, but we would also honour one or two members who had died.”
Seventeen people have been honoured through the Thelma Smith Memorial Tournament. This year’s event will honour Pierre Gauthier and Sam Boutros, who both passed away in 2017.
“I have played tennis across Canada … and I always ask tennis clubs if they have anything like this in their club. They are always quite interested in it, but we’re the only club I know of that honours past members,” said Gardiner.
“We have a memorial wall, where we posted a picture of each person that we honour.”
Family members of Gauthier and Boutros have been invited to speak at a potluck supper event following the tournament.
“We have some camaraderie time, where the winners are awarded their prizes and the family members speak about their loved ones who have died,” she said.
Gardiner said she expects the tournament to be busy.
“We have eight outdoor courts, so we can have four on each court, and those courts are full all day. It’s a very popular tournament,” said Gardiner.
Club membership is consistently over 200 adults and juniors, from beginners to provincially ranked players.
“The club is 122 years old this year. It started in 1900 – tennis was being played in 1898, but the club was formed two years later,” she said.
“The first president was Mr. Love, which is quite unusual because ‘love’ is part of the scorekeeping in tennis. Red Deer has had clay courts, grass courts and now we have these wonderful hard courts. It’s the best facility in Western Canada – we have 12 courts in one location – four indoor courts and eight beautiful outdoor courts.”
For more information on the club, visit www.reddeertennis.com.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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