Hub Staff

Southampton Tennis Club's 2015 Cups Day took place on Saturday, August 29, with games played at both the Lake Street clubhouse as well as Warder Courts on South Street.

“There are 43 different categories,” said Club Director, Wendy Buckley. “They range all the way from under 10 to Grandparent/Granchild and everything in between.” The tournament had taken place over the previous three weeks with Saturday being championship day.

Next year is the club's 60th anniversary. “There are 70 year olds that have been coming up since they were babies and they're now having their grandchildren take lessons.” Buckley said they will decide at the end of the season what types of special events will mark the club's 60 years. “We're asking people for any photos they have from the 1950s and 60s of themselves as children and we'll do kind of a collage.”

Southampton Tennis Club started in 1956 and today offers a full range of programs on 15 hard courts at three locations. With approximately 1,500 members it is one of the largest summer clubs in North America. Buckley said the membership goes on in July and August but they leave the tennis nets up for six months for the community to use. “The nets go up as soon as the weather is good and don't go down until Thanksgiving,” she said.

Long standing tennis club member Heather Burling, who was on the board of directors for 18 years, said that some of the trophies are 59 years old. “When we first started we had a little table with eight trophies on it in 1956 and it just grew and grew and grew,” she said. “We only had 40 members the first year.”

Although the trophy presentation was due to be held on court six by the beach clubhouse, rain during the day moved the event to the Uptown courts on Thompson Street, behind the Saugeen Shores Lawn Bowling Club, opposite the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre.

Director and Master of Ceremonies for the evening's presentations, Catherine Motzboard, welcomed everyone to Southampton Tennis Club Cups Night 2015 and told of how Cups Night started at that same location 59 years ago. The Uptown courts being the original two courts of the Club.

Club Chair, Kathy Festeryga welcomed everyone and spoke about several changes within the last year at the club and about the Daniel Nestor day in July (see full story HERE) and thanked all those involved.

Trophies were then presented to all the winners and finalists that took part in the 2015 Cups Day.