Great Adventure for Under 10s

On April 25-27, a team of 8 boys and 8 girls, all of whom were under the age of 10 at the start of 2025, travelled to Montreal to represent Ontario in a match with their Quebec counterparts. Accompanied by coaches Isabella Baston and Mark Cooper, they had “a fabulous experience” in the words of one player’s family. 

Of the 16 Ontario players, seven are resident in SouthWest Region : Abbey Crump, Alejandro Delgado, Daniel Brakus, Landon Cruz, Lincoln Coons, Sofia Tabunshchyk and Theia Zhang. They train in a variety of academy settings such as ACE Burlington TC, Niagara Academy, Ontario Racquet Club and Grimsby TC. 

Three days of competition included varied formats, each of which provided opportunities to collect points for the team. Friday featured singles matches plus a novelty game nicknamed “chockeux”. [If you know how it runs, please let us know!] 

Saturday brought more singles matches, followed by a doubles tournament, in which Landon Cruz (Grimsby TC) teamed with Oliver Cheng (Toronto) to win the boys doubles. It was a good example of how this special event taught the players about teamwork. Landon and Oliver normally compete against each other in tournaments, knowing each other primarily as rivals. But now they were together as a team, working toward a common goal. 

Sunday wrapped things up with a singles tiebreak competition. It felt great to cheer for team mates and bring out the best in each other. Quebec emerged victorious by a total score of 68-52, but a great time was had by all.