SW Ontario Plus 55 League

On Tuesday September 3rd, Victoria Park TC in Cambridge was the site of the championship match for the SW Ontario Plus 55 Tennis League Champions trophy.

At the conclusion of play, Victoria Park TC successfully defended their 2023 title, getting the best of Waterloo TC by a score of 15-9. Team captain Gwen Chiasson (centre back wearing sunglasses in the photo above) had this to say about the experience :

We joined the league two years ago, and the team has thoroughly enjoyed the travel to other clubs and the friendly competitiveness. It was an exciting final, coming down to the mixed at the end; the win could have easily gone either way. The Victoria Park team is greatly looking forward to next year!

The league plays a full home-and-home schedule, with this year’s lineup including Westmount, Ancaster, Rosedale and Port Dover, along with the two clubs in the finals. This is the 8th season for the league, with Rosedale having won it four times and Waterloo twice.

The league originated when Pat Moran moved to Port Dover and was looking for a way to maintain contact with friends he’d made at other clubs over the course of the tennis decades. Matches are generally played on Tuesday mornings and feature two rounds of men’s and women’s doubles, followed by mixed doubles – each round being 40 minutes. With a 2-1-0 scoring system, there are 24 points up for grabs each week and the scores tend to stay fairly close.

A very special feature of the league is a weekly report from the Roving Reporter. The unnamed scribe has a tongue-in-cheek style which tends to set the tone for the matches. Here’s a sample from an earlier week in the season :

Today was moving day in the greatest league east of the Mississippi. The Waterloo Will-dos leapfrogged over the Westmount What-was-thats? on the strength of a 20-4 thrashing of the bewildered new kids. Waterloo now holds a solid grip on 2nd place while Westmount is 3rd. This was definitely a win-it-for-ex-captain Rudy who sadly passed away recently. R.I.P. Rudy!

Meanwhile in the battle of the has-beens, the Ancaster Almightys squeaked past the Dover Dervishes 13-11. There was a dizzying array of deft drop shots, thundering overheads, groovy ground strokes and then the match began. Suffice to say though that the crowds were thoroughly entertained…over at the splash pad.

Then the tennis world was thrown into a complete frenzy when the Vic Park Vanquishers dumped the Rosedale Rosy-bottoms 22-2. Captain Gwen of the visitors humbly reported that the score was not indicative etc (very sporting of her!). This result catapulted Dover past Rosedale into the 4th and final playoff spot and cemented Vic Park into a first place stranglehold as you can see by the following updated league standings:

#1- Vic Park – 107 points in 7 matches (average 15.3)

#2- Waterloo – 91 points in 7 matches (average 13.0)

#3- Westmount – 70 points in 6 matches (average 11.7)

#4- Dover – 78 points in 7 matches (average 11.1)

#5- Rosedale – 72 points in 7 matches (average 10.3)

#6- Ancaster – 52 points in 6 matches (average 8.7)

With one week to go, it’s still anybody’s ball game for the final two playoff spots and here are the matchups:.

  • Dover @ Waterloo
  • Rosedale @ Westmount
  • Vic Park @ Ancaster

Hold on to your hats and tighten your keesters…the proverbial poop may hit the fan!

The Roving Reporter

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