What the heck is a Coffee Crisp?* APTA Clinic Hits Toronto

Suzanne Lanthier
October 1, 2014
Toronto, Ontario

The weekend of September 19 and 20 felt more like July when Toronto enjoyed some of its best weather of the summer and welcomed some of the best pros to the Kingsway Platform Tennis Club.

All clinic spots sold out within 48 hours of posting the event at the club and our members and potential members were not disappointed.

Our collective and enthusiastic thanks to our Quadruple M’s—Max “Edgewalk” LePivert, Mikk “Tweener” Irdoja, Mark “The Fischl” Fischl and Monte “Mr. Positive” Montalbano—for their time away from work, friends, and family, and for being as fantastic at hour 8 as hour 1. And to Paul Stulac for his expertise and time that allowed us to have as many paddlers take part as possible.

Over 100 paddlers from ‘never-picked-up-a-paddle’ to ‘tournament-tough’ players participated in the Viking and APTA sponsored clinics. From the first minute on the court on Friday, with our littlest paddlers, to the last clinic after 8 ½ hours on court on Saturday, the pros were 100% engaged, 100% energetic, 100% supportive, 100% entertaining, 100% informative, and, with Monte in the group, 1000% positive!

Even a week later, I continue to receive emails and texts from everyone who participated, saying how great the clinics were, how much they learned and how excited they were to put the lessons into action on the court.

From basic shot-making to heavy-duty strategy, the clinics and exhibition matches provided everyone with an incredible kick-off to the paddle season in Toronto. In addition to over 90 paddlers from the Kingsway Club, we were thrilled to welcome 15 paddlers from our sister club, The Badminton & Racquet Club.

The pros put us through our paces big time. You only had to look at the smiling, sweaty faces, empty beer and Gatorade bottles, and hear the oohs and aahs and cheers of the crowds to know that we are putting this event in the success column.

After being run around the court all day, we decided it was time for us to put the pros through a little challenge of their own with some Canadian Trivia. The results—well, let’s just say, their performances on the court far outweighed their performance during the contest. Max was ultimately crowned Captain Canada and took home the Golden Beaver Trophy. See how you would do on the trivia questions below!

To Viking and the APTA—we are your biggest cheerleaders for continuing to invest in these events, particularly at clubs like the Kingsway in Toronto, where we operate 100% with volunteers and no paid staff. Thank you!

More pictures can be found on the APTA Facebook site and the Kingsway Platform Tennis Club site.