Waterloo has a new tennis dome that will now provide more opportunities for people across the Eastern Townships to discover and play the sport year-round.

The tennis dome project in Waterloo was spearheaded by Norman Rothsching, a tennis coach for a number of years and now president of the François Godbout Tennis Club. Five years in the making, Rothsching first proposed a year-round facility in support of the development of tennis to the city of Montreal, Bromont, and Granby before he finally found support for the project with the Town of Waterloo.

With the help of financial contributions from the Town of Waterloo, la Caisse Desjardins de la Porte-des-Cantons-de-l’Est through their "Fonds du grand Mouvement,"
former tennis player and Waterloo community member François Godbout, and Tennis Canada through its “Year-Round Community Tennis Courts Program presented by Rogers,” Waterloo’s tennis dome is now officially up-and-running. It is the first project to be completed in Quebec through Tennis Canada’s program and it’s one of the first facilities of its kind for the Eastern Townships. 

“It’s going to give us 10,000 more court hours this winter, so that’s a lot of extra court time. Usually the nets would be gone by now and only set up again around May. We have a lot of options for programming, for tournaments, for seniors, we have many different things going on,” said Rothsching. 

“We want more people to play tennis, more kids to play tennis, 12 months a year. It’s a great sport but so far, in Quebec and Canada for the most part, people play during the summer season and then put the racket in the locker until the spring. There is a demand for people to play 12 months a year. We hope that this will serve as a model for other municipalities to do just the same because it will [catch on],” said Eugene Lapierre, former Montreal tennis tournament director and now special advisor to the president of Tennis Canada.

Now that the doors of Waterloo’s tennis dome are open, Rothsching noted that it is meant to be a “regional project” that is open to all Townshippers - and even those from outside of the area - that are looking for a place to train, play the game, or to get learn more about tennis at a low cost. 

“Most of the tennis clubs in Quebec are privately owned. Tennis is so popular that they are charging really expensive fees. They don’t really host many children’s tournaments because the revenue that comes in doesn’t cover the court cost. I think that’s why we need more of the facilities around,” mentioned Rothsching.

“One of the aspects was that you couldn’t charge membership. Most of the private clubs charge a few hundred dollars. We have a very minimal fee to cover our key cards, but it’s really negligible, it’s $35 for the whole season. (…) As far as I know, we are the least expensive indoor tennis facility in Quebec at the moment,” Rothsching told CIDI. 

“I’ve been very close to the facility in Montreal at the IGA Stadium where we have 16 indoor courts and it’s full all the time. They’re the only public courts in the greater Montreal area. Yes, there are private clubs, but they’re not the most affordable for ‘Monsieur Tous Monde’ as we say. So that’s why this type of facility is so good. It’s going to give people the opportunity to play tennis all year-long and in an affordable way. We want to see more of that,” noted Lapierre.

Highlighting how the tennis dome with support the future vision of the François Godbout Tennis Club, Rothsching emphasized that his goal and priority is to provide more opportunities for children and to put the club’s programs on the map. An important aspect of this is inviting the local elementary schools and high-schools to experience playing tennis at the dome and to host more tournaments for children.

“Most of the tennis clubs in Quebec are privately owned. Tennis is so popular that they are charging really expensive fees. They don’t really host many children’s tournaments because the revenue that comes in doesn’t cover the court cost. I think that’s why we need more of the facilities around,” mentioned Rothsching.

As a member of the board with Tennis Quebec for six years, Rothsching added that there are only about 15 regional tennis centres in Quebec for development with kids and “there hasn’t really been one in this area.” 

“Our goal, within three years, is to be recognized as a ‘centre dévélopment” for kids. (…) For tennis, prior to having the facility here, a lot of the players would go to Brossard or all the way to Montreal to train there. It’s really excellent that they will be able to play all year-round and closer to home,” he said. “(…) Typically, adults can call each other up or their leagues, it’s very easy to organize. I’m kind of charging the way to put in the step-by-step so that if someone starts playing at four years old they can play all throughout high-school, and now there are also CEGEP and university leagues in the province. We’re getting quite organized.”

For more information on the François Godbout Tennis Club and its programs, visit its website.

To hear more details on Waterloo's new tennis dome and what's to come next for the François Godbout Tennis Club, listen to the full-interview below: