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Welcome to The Garneau Tennis Club

Edmonton's finest tennis club, featuring 7 new Nova-Pro clay courts and 3 newly renovated beach volleyball courts. Members enjoy continuous play for tennis and volleyball. All tennis courts are lighted for night play. For more information, please contact our office at (780) 431-2085 or email garneautennis@gmail.com.

HOURS OF OPERATION:

      •    Monday - Friday from 9am until 10 pm
      •   Saturday & Sunday from 10am until 9pm

Please be advised that hours may change due to weather.

Contact links:
For info regarding memberships, tournament registration, lessons or sponsorship: garneautennis@gmail.com

We are located just North of Whyte Avenue on 109 street. The office is located in the City Arts Center building and can be accessed during our regular office hours:

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Brief History

   In 1926 Harry Ainley, principal of the Garneau Public School, convinced the city to allocate a block of land for recreation use, between 83rd and 84th Avenues and 109th and 110th Streets.
Four shale tennis courts were built on the land, using volunteer labour. The following year a small clubhouse was built, to be used by skaters in the winter and tennis players in the summer. The skating rink was located where the Cafe Select now stands. In 1929 the Garneau Community League Tennis Club was founded. Two additional shale tennis courts were built some time before 1950, and two asphalt courts were added in the 1980s.
   The Garneau Community League built a multi-use facility adjacent to the tennis courts in the 1970s. The building included squash and racquetball courts. Unfortunately the league entered a period of financial instability and could not sustain operation of the new building. In 1990, tennis players incorporated the Garneau Tennis Club as a not-for-profit organization, and the operation of the club was made separate from that of the community league. The community league agreed to lease the tennis courts to the club. 
   In 1995 the league turned over the multi-use building to the City of Edmonton. The building was occupied for a time by a theatre group, which in 1996 converted the lawn bowling courts to the west of the building into beach volleyball courts. The club became known as the Garneau Tennis and Beach Volleyball Club, although its legal name is still the Garneau Tennis Club.
   In 1999 the City of Edmonton proposed moving the City Arts Centre into the now abandoned building. As part of this move, the city proposed to convert the two asphalt tennis courts into additional parking spaces. Only a concerted lobbying effort by the tennis club saved the courts from destruction. The parking lot was instead expanded onto an unused bus loop adjacent to 109th Street. The building was renovated and the new City Arts Centre opened in 2000. The club leases a small office and storage shed in the building, and has use of washroom and shower areas. 
   The club has raised a considerable amount of money through biannual casino fundraising activities, and is planning an upgrade of the tennis court lights. The light upgrade will bring a new standard of tennis court lights to the Edmonton area.

      
Garneau Executives 2010
   

Derri Thomas

Andreas Tilgmann

William Vu

 

Tatiana Zdorenko

Vic Bella

Rhonda Minchau

President

Vice President

Financial Officer

 

Secretary

Tournament Director

Social Coordinator

Bio coming soon! Andreas joined Garneau in 2009 after a 16 year break from tennis. Andreas works with IT/Business Analysis Consulting. When not playing tennis he is running, planning orienteering courses, mountain-biking and back-country telemark skiing. Bio coming soon! Tatiana has been on the Garneau Executive Board since September, 2009. She is also a  linguistics student at the University of Alberta. Bio coming soon! Rhonda started playing tennis about 8 years ago.  She joined Garneau about 6 years ago and has been on the Board for 3 years, the last two as Social Coordinator. Rhonda enjoys playing Tennis AB tournaments, both singles and doubles, as well as Interclub tennis and has captained the UofA ladies Level 1 team for the last 3 Years.

 

Ken Howard

James Gospodyn

George Ngondo

Melita Allan

Kenneth Dickie

Fran Furman

Wynne Shapka

Facilities

Website/ Tournaments

Facilities/ Tournaments

Interclub Coordinator

Volleyball/ Website

Volleyball

Volleyball

Bio coming soon! James has been playing at the Garneau since 2007.  This is currently James's first year on the Board.  James is an instructor at NAIT, and has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.  As well as tennis, he is also an avid curler in the off-season. Bio coming soon! Melita started playing tennis at a very young age in London, Ontario.  She has been a member at Garneau for the past 10 years and played tennis on both Ladies and Mixed Interclub and currently serves as Interclub Coordinator on our Executive Team.  Melita and her husband are also very involved and participate in their teenage sons competitive sports of Cross Country Skiing and Rowing.  Melita is an outdoor enthusiast and is looking forward to our upcoming Tennis Season! Kenny is relatively new to the beach volleyball scene but has devoted himself to sport since discovering it. He also keeps busy playing Badminton and indoor volleyball in the off-season.  Kenny is a Computer Software Engineer currently working for GE. This is Kenny's first year on the Garneau Exec. Bio coming soon! Wynne started playing volleyball in junior high, got the bug and has been playing ever since. Born and raised in Edmonton, Wynne played for the U of A Pandas and several city club teams. During the past indoor season, Wynne's volleyball team "Not It", defending City Champs placed 2nd in City Finals Tier I. Wynne enjoys watching her daughters play soccer and volleyball. Wynne currently shares the VB rep position with Fran Furman.

      
Garneau Staff 2010

At the Garneau Tennis & Beach Volleyball Club, we offer the best in service and instruction. Recognizing that it will be a busy summer we have staffed up to meet our needs.

2010 Season Staff

Cara Patterson

Former Manager

Maria Araniego

Assistant Manager

Marie Dean

Manager

Lane Richard

Tennis Pro

Ariel Wiebe

Assistant Pro

Ross Anderson

Assistant Pro

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Cara is back for another season as the Manager of the GTBVC.  This will be her fourth year at the club. Cara is currently a Law Student at the University of Alberta, and will be studying abroad in Oslo, Norway this fall.  Cara has an athletic background as a former competitive figure skater and sprinter.  She is currently an avid runner and was the captain of the law faculty's womens' hockey team this season.

Cara also promises that she will actually try to become a better tennis player this year!

This is Maria's first season at the club. She is excited to be joining us for our 43rd annual Centennial Tournament. She will be working throught September and October to keep the facilities open until it snows.

Maria is studying Business at the U of A and plans to continue on to get her CA Designate. She is very excited to be attending World Youth Day in Madrid next August.

Maria has a passion for tennis, basketball, biking, snowboarding and travelling. Interestingly, Maria lived in Dubai for 9 years and in BC for 5 years.

We are so excited to have Maria work with us this season!

 

 

Marie is back as a Manager this season!  This will be her second year with the GTBVC. Marie is currently an Education student at the University of Alberta, and will be studying in Quebec until mid-June.  Marie also studied abroad in Germany last summer.  She is fluent in German, and we are certain that she will become fluent in French as well!  Marie has an athletic background and has competed in triathlons for many years. Marie also works at the front desk of the City Arts Centre so members will be seeing her around quite often once she returns!

Marie has also stated that she will be giving tennis a try this season!

Lane is returning as our Head Tennis Professional this season.  We are very lucky to have him returning for a second year at the club. Lane is an accomplished tennis coach with 6 years of coaching experience. He has also obtained a Club Pro 1 Coaching Certification.  Lane was also the MVP of the University of Alberta Tennis Team this season. While he works full-time as our Tennis Pro, he also finds time to coach at the Royal Glenora on weekends.  Lane will have a wide range of lessons/programs available for our membership.

Lane is currently an Education student the UofA.  In addition to being a skilled two-stepper, Lane is also our resident "Grill King" and can be found satisfying everyone's BBQ needs at most of our tournaments and social events!

Ariel joins the Garneau this year after coaching for two summers, first in the U of A summer camps, and then with KidSport and Groovy Girlz camps.  Ariel is a 2009 graduate of the UofA junior elite tennis program and represented Alberta at the 2008 U18 Nationals in Markham, Ontario.  She first picked up a tennis racquet in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she spent most of her life until moving to Canada in junior high. After taking a gap year to work in retail sales and perfect her driving skills, she will attend the UofA this fall and hopes eventually to study law.  She loves reading, playing tennis, and her fatso cat, Stuart.

This is Ross' first year at the Garneau, although he was a member last year.  Ross is an active junior and adult tournament player in Alberta, training out of the Royal Glenora Club.  Ross completed a recent Tennis Alberta coaching clinic, and is planning on upgrading his certification further.  Ross is interested in going into Bio-Chemistry in a couple years.  Besides tennis, he loves music, acoustic guitar, snowboarding and mountain biking.  Ross is really looking forward to being at the Garneau this year!