Year-round tennis dome project receives $200,000 from Tennis Canada
File picture of tennis dome. (Tennis Canada)
A proposed year-round tennis dome in Chatham received a boost, with Tennis Canada announcing on Feb. 6 that Chatham-Kent will be one of six municipalities across Canada that will receive $200,000 as part of their Year-Round Community Tennis Courts Program.
Tennis Canada provided the grant, in partnership with Rogers. This seed money will help build four new year-round courts in the new tennis dome coming soon to as part of the Bear Line Park Project.
A group of dedicated volunteers have been working for years to organize and fundraise to bring a tennis dome to Chatham-Kent. The grant from Tennis Canada will help to make the tennis dome a reality.
“We’re thrilled to have been awarded the Year-Round Community Tennis Courts Program grant provided by Tennis Canada and Rogers,” said Darrin Canniff, mayor of Chatham-Kent.
“This funding helps bring a tennis dome to our growing community and will provide another great venue for Chatham-Kent residents to have fun, learn new skills, and live more healthy and active lifestyles.”
The Bear Line Park project includes building a regional park on Bear Line across from St. Clair College. The tennis dome, which is expected to begin construction in the spring, will be part of the first phase of the park. Chatham-Kent is comitting $2 million to create the park.
Tennis Clubs of Canada will be build, own, operate and incur all costs associated with the dome.
Spread across three provinces, projects in the municipalities of Niagara, Mississauga, St Catharines and Chatham-Kent, Ontario as well as Ile-Bizard, Quebec were confirmed for 2024.
An additional location in British Columbia, representing the first project in Canada’s western-most province, will be announced in the coming weeks. Each of these projects will be provided $200,000 in seed money, bringing Tennis Canada and Rogers’ investment in the program to $1.2 million this year alone and the total number of completed and ongoing projects to 14.
In its third year, the Year-Round Community Tennis Courts Program has already made a substantial impact across the country. Completed projects in Markham and Hamilton, Ontario, Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, as well as Waterloo, Quebec have delivered 26 new covered courts, providing 4.1 million Canadians access to year-round tennis.
Further projects in Thunder Bay, Stratford and Toronto, Ontario are also currently under construction as part of the program.
The projects announced today are scheduled for completion in time for the 2024-25 fall and winter seasons. Soil-turning ceremonies will be held at each of the other project clubs over the coming weeks.