Looking for a net gain
Cromarty Tennis Club to hold open house and registration on Saturday
Cromarty Tennis Club will have an ace up its sleeve when it comes to one of its new instructors this summer.
Nikki Baloescu of Kitchener, Ont., was formerly ranked No. 23 in Canada in the women’s open category and even earned a doubles ranking of 1,165th on the WTA in 2016. She’s played in tournaments across the world.
The 20-year-old is in Cape Breton studying business administration at Cape Breton University. She hopes to one day open her own tennis academy.
Baloescu is looking forward to helping teach the sport, especially to local youth. She and the other instructors will be on hand Saturday for the club’s open house from noon to 3 p.m. There will be a free barbeque, registration and prizes. Those interested can try out the sport as well.
“I really enjoy teaching kids,” she said. “Someday I strive to teach great juniors, so I see some good potential here at the academy, so I want to share my knowledge to build these kids up to the highest level.”
Saturday’s event will be a kickoff to what will be a busy summer at club, located on Cromarty Street in Sydney.
There will be three separate youth summer tennis camps starting July 9. Club manager Carter Bown said they’re also looking to grow the game among adults as well.
“We’re focusing on getting the adults more involved in their programming,” said Bown. “In years past, it was mostly focused on the kids and we’re still focusing on building their tennis but we’re also trying to add on to that by adding more programming for adults of all skill levels.”
The big weekend will be Aug. 17-19 when three tournaments will be held concurrently at the club. The 2018 Cape Breton Open will attract some of the top players from across the province. The Cape Breton junior regionals and the masters championships will also be contested.
“A big focus this summer is making the Cape Breton Open the best that we’ve had,” said Bown.