The Scarps : ICTA Champs

Halton Hills isn’t exactly the first place people think of when they consider SouthWest Region, so perhaps a little preamble is in order for this story.

Halton Hills is in the farthest northeastern part of SWR, above the 401 and bordering Brampton. It was formed in 1974 through the amalgamation of the former Towns of Georgetown and Acton, along with in-between bits and pieces. It’s bisected by the Niagara Escarpment from southwest to northeast, and a significant portion of the rural area is located within the provincial Greenbelt.

If that paints a picture of somewhere particularly picturesque, you’ve got it right. The escarpment is the prominent feature and includes many beautiful hiking destinations and features protected by conservation authorities.

The escarpment is so dominant, in fact, that it was taken by the Halton Hills Junior Club as the name for their teams. They’re known as “the Scarps” … and they’re ICTA Junior Champions for the second consecutive year.

ICTA is the largest league in Canada and has been operating since 1962. The Junior All-Stars is an U14/U18 division; players may be younger than that, but not older. Inter-club competition is in May and June, and clubs are divided into seven geographic sections. Two of those sections include teams from SouthWest Region. Halton Hills TC finished first in West-1, and Milton TC was second – ahead of four other clubs. In West-2, Appleby TC finished ahead of Burlington TC and Aldershot TC, then played off against Milton.

As a result, Halton Hills and Milton advanced to the ICTA Championships – a gala weekend involving all the divisions and hundreds of players, held at Sobeys Tennis Centre on September 21-22. Competition in the All-Stars was tough, as it featured winning teams from all the sections across the GTA, but the Halton Hills Scarps emerged as champions. To make it even more impressive, they were the youngest team in the division.

This sort of success for a community club doesn’t come from nowhere. The junior program at Halton Hills TC is multi-layered. Club pro Mike Mitchell leads a team of instructors for summer- camp and after-school programs geared to starter-level youngsters. Once players can rally, there’s a Junior House League for an hour each Monday and Wednesday. And once they’re ready for a more intensive experience, there’s an Elite House League for two hours each Tuesday and Thursday. This is the group that carries the Scarps banner into regional and provincial competition.

Our story can’t go further before talking about Michael Mitchell. Mike is a born-and-raised Halton Hills (Georgetown) boy, playing top-level junior tennis in the 70s/80s with all the best players from throughout SWR and the GTA at that time. He went on to a university career at West Texas, earning all-American honors in 1989.

Returning home, he built a stellar coaching career, is certified Level 3, and was OUA coach-of-the-year in 2007, 2009, 2011 for his work with the York University teams, and he’s been on the teaching staff at York University for many years. He still plays competitively and had 7 wins to only 1 loss in the 60+ singles at this summer’s Steve Stevens Masters. Despite expressing a desire to slow things down a bit, Mike is always ready to lend a hand when his experience and expertise can make a difference … as they very often do.

How do you measure the legacy of such a career? The answer is often in roundabout ways. As it happens, the Scarps House League is led by two volunteer parent-coaches, both of whom credit the influence of Mike Mitchell. Gord Buchan was a high-level junior player in the early 90s and played a lot with Mike before earning his own scholarship to Huntington University and a masters degree at Indiana State. Dan Cibic was a multi-sport high school athlete in the late 90s, but added tennis to his roster thanks to Mike’s involvement with his school and competed successfully in OTA events.

Fast forward several years and both Dan and Gord find themselves back in Halton Hills, now with growing families. In 2018, Dan’s son Eli was 7 years of age, while Gord’s son James was 9 and Aiden was 7. Dan had been a volunteer board member for the Halton Hills TC, including the period during which the courts were relocated to Gellert Park in 2012, and could see the need for more court time for the young players.

Dan and Gord made a start that first summer, concentrating on club activities that helped the kids feel comfortable with competition. In 2019, they dipped their toe into ICTA Junior with an U12 team. The years 2020 and 2021 kept everyone close to home, but the Scarps were ready-to-roll when things resumed in 2022 and the program has gone from strength to strength.

Dan and Gord are quick to say the trophies are an outward sign that things are going well, but it’s not the main story. They’re proud of the culture at the club and the values it instills in the players, and they credit three elements.

First and foremost are the parents. Dan speaks of parents who have such a positive approach that it sets the tone for all the other families. The second element is the club executive, led by president Victor Estevan. They’ve been incredibly supportive of the junior programming and have a vision for the future of tennis in Halton Hills. The final element is encouragement for the kids to pursue a variety of sports. As multi-sport athletes, the players experience less mental pressure for their tennis and also amplify their athletic skills. In Dan’s words :
They simply pick up new skills better and have better body control than the other players. It’s quite common after a two-hour Scarps session to have all our players break out into a pickup game of basketball, flag football or soccer. It happens naturally, and our group of amazing parents patiently sit and chat, understanding the value of it. It takes a village to raise a tennis player.

Dan and Gord came to this project with a strong tennis background, wanting to “give back” for the sake of their own kids. They enjoy the challenge of learning how to coach and actively seek out mentors and new ideas. This involvement by “former players” as volunteer coaches is commonly seen in other youth sports, but not so much in tennis. Perhaps we can find a way to learn from the Scarps story and spread the idea.

In the meantime, congratulations SCARPS! You did it!

Coaches Dan Cibic and Gord Buchan offer a high intensive dynamic program designed to help juniors take their game to the next level both as individuals and as part of the team. So that means being positive, supportive, competitive but first and foremost playing fair.