A new national grant given to a Kelowna tennis club will help more women and girls become active in the tennis community.
The Okanagan Mission Tennis Club (OKMTC) in Kelowna was one of 21 programs who received funding from Tennis Canada’s Game. Set. Equity Community Grant.
The grant is given to programs in the country that will “advance equity for women and girls at all levels of the tennis ecosystems in Canada, from playground to the pro tours.”
Nadia Petryshyn is the organizer for OKMTC girls tennis program, and remarked just how important the funds are for the community.
“Unfortunately, when girls hit their teens, they become less active,” she said. “Not sure why, we just know that that is happening and so it is an effort to get girls to stay active through more opportunities.”
The girls tennis program was first started in 2023 by Eva Miller. Miller has since moved to Victoria, but enlisted the help of Petryshyn prior to her moving.
“She reached out to me about a girls program and wanted to know if we could try it in Kelowna,” said Petryshyn. “We wanted to see more girls on court and more female role models.”
Part of the funds from the grant will be going towards certifying two women in Kelowna to become official tennis pros, which will then lead to growth of the program.
“I am hopeful by 2025 to get two girls in the program to be certified so we can get a bunch of girls on court not just leading the programs, but being secondary coaches.”
Petryshyn acts as a voice for females at the tennis club, mentioning how male-dominated the tennis community is in the Okanagan.
“We have managed to get two women on the tennis committee, which is almost half,” she said. “The guys that are there are quite open to helping out and getting more women initiatives going.”
With the grant money, Petryshyn hopes to increase the amount of girls in the program year-by-year, as right now it is just a four-week program in the fall.
“In the future I am hoping to grow the program so we can have three coaches and hopefully be able to have all three of them on court at the same time running three courts for three different age groups.”
Petryshyn mentioned that “the more the program grows, the more mentors we get and the more girls we get that can become coaches.”
OKMTC will also be hosting a Girls. Set. Match event on Saturday, August 17, where Tennis BC will be present.
“It is a cool program and super relaxed, with the goal to be to go out there, be active and have fun,” said Petryshyn. “Just hoping for more girls to pick up the sport so that they can stay active and play for hopefully their whole life.”
For more information, visit okmissiontennis.org, or contact Petryshyn at nadiapetryshyn@hotmail.com.
