The South Cowichan Lawn Tennis Club has been providing fun and finesse to the community for 137 years.
“This is a special place,” said club president Mike Rasmussen. “I’ve played golf on all the great golf courses in the world, for example St. Andrews in Scotland, which is considered holy ground. For tennis players, the atmosphere here is the same. People come from all over the world to play on these courses.”
The SCLTC was founded on May 9, 1887, at a time when British Columbia was just being settled and many British aristocrats came to Vancouver Island and bought up large tracts of land, including the Cowichan Valley.
“They were upper class and had everything they wanted, such as outdoor activities like hunting and fishing, but they were missing the one thing they were used to, which was tennis courts,” Rasmussen said. “So two families built a few courts and the rest is history.”
The SCLTC, which for the first few years of its existence had its original location just down the road from its current location, now has seven grass courts and two hard courts. Fun fact: Regular tennis was originally known as lawn tennis in Britain as it was played by Victorian gentlemen and ladies on grass courts. The SCLTC is nicknamed “Wimbledon West” as Wimbledon opened a year earlier than the SCLTC in 1877, making it the oldest tennis club in the world. However, during the World Wars they closed their courts while the SCLTC did not, making this valley gem the longest continuously open tennis club in the world.
“That’s our claim to fame,” Rasmussen said. “During World War I and World War II, membership here dropped quite a bit because a lot of men went off to war, but we didn’t close and the older men, women and children continued to play here. There are a lot of grass tennis courts in the world, but when you look at Canadian history, it’s pretty impressive that this club was able to operate on a very tight budget for so many years.”
Rasmussen has been involved with the SCLTC, a nonprofit organization, for six years, and as president, one of his primary responsibilities is maintaining the grounds. Returning members will notice the new fence, completed last April to replace boards that were deteriorating. Members did the work themselves, with material costs coming in at about $12,000. Rasmussen estimates the club saved itself $20,000 in labor costs by tackling the project itself. Rasmussen recently hired someone with a green thumb to keep the gardens in full bloom, but he takes pride and joy in beautifying the grounds.
“The grass pitches have to be mowed and re-lined three times a week. Then the grass has to be rolled four times a week with a half-ton roller to keep it firm,” said Rasmussen. “The other day I met a gentleman who had not played here for many years. He introduced himself and told me that he had played here for several years and that he had never seen the grass in such good condition as it is now,” said Rasmussen. “It gives me great satisfaction to hear that. Everything looks so beautiful now because we tried to do things differently instead of just trying to do it at random.”
The SCLTC kicked off its season on May 18 and will be serving up triumphs and “love” through mid-September. The rules and scoring system for regular and grass tennis are pretty much the same. Both sports require six games won to win a set, however regular tennis matches do not have the two-game buffer rule that exists in grass tennis. The real difference between grass and hard court is the takeoff.
“You need to have some tennis experience before you can play on grass, so we recommend that newcomers start on our hard courts,” said Rasmussen. “The most important thing when playing on grass is the bounce. If you don’t roll the ball, it’s like trying to throw a ball into the sand, so we have to hold it tight.”
The top grass tennis players still shout “30 love” and so on, because love in tennis means zero. This term for zero comes from the French, as egg is l’oeuf in French and is pronounced love. Rasmussen, who personally prefers to stand back and hit the ball on the hard court, says playing on grass contributes to a finesse game because if you get a drop shot, it doesn’t bounce up and you win the point every time. It’s also much easier on the joints, especially for seniors, and cushions any falls you might take during a match, essentially extending a player’s career.
“One of our members, Peter Wilson, will be 90 in October. He’s not exactly good for a 90-year-old, he’s just good and has won tournaments all over Canada,” said Rasmussen. “Tennis is the number one sport for longevity in old age. It’s not just the physical component, but also the mental component where you have to react quickly, and then there’s the strategic component. The brain has to function as well as the body.”
The SCLTC was declared a BC Heritage Site in 1992 and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1987. The SCLTC has good news to report as it recently applied to join the global Centenary Tennis Clubs organization, which is not limited to grass court clubs but has been in existence for over a century. The CTC Board of Directors unanimously accepted the SCLTC as a member of this organization last April.
“Tennis players from other clubs in countries like Monaco, France, Switzerland and England can come here and play for free, and our members can go to other courts abroad and do the same,” Rasmussen said. “This will literally put this little club on the map, so we’re pretty excited to get that exposure in the tennis world.”
SCLTC is always looking for new blood and there’s never been a better time to join. A full-time membership in town costs $400 per year plus a one-time $100 initiation fee, which Rasmussen says is a real bargain based on the SCLTC’s maintenance costs alone, while a guest is allowed to play up to three times per season for a drop-in fee of $25 per visit.
Those new to tennis or looking to improve can now benefit from time spent with SCLTC’s recently hired head tennis professional Rachel Gould, who will offer clinics, group lessons, and private and semi-private lessons. Rasmussen says semi-private lessons will cost about $50 per hour, while private lessons will cost about $75 per hour.
“She is simply phenomenal and has the highest accreditation of any coach in Canada,” said Rasmussen. “Rachel and her husband have always wanted to live on Vancouver Island and were thrilled to come to us when the position opened up in the winter. We just feel like she is a gift from the tennis gods to us and still can’t believe she is now our tennis pro here.”
The SCLTC’s playing season begins in mid-May and runs through mid-September. On opening day, the club’s hard court was packed with kids trying their hand at the game.
“It was great. We need this rejuvenation in a place like this,” Rasmussen said.
The Grass Court Classic over the Canada Day long weekend was the first of three tournaments the club will host this summer. The second is the K Wilson Classic on July 26-28, the popular mixed doubles memorial tournament honoring former club president Kay Wilson. The third tournament on the SCLTC courts is the 137th annual Vancouver Island Lawn Tennis International Tennis Federation Masters, which will be held August 4-7.
“It’s just incredible how far people travel to play here,” said Rasmussen. “For over 40 years, the same people have been coming here just to play on these courses.”
One of the SCLTC’s goals is to make the club more accessible to the public and it is hoped that more people will come to try or watch this long-popular sport. For more information visit the SCLTC website.
“Most people on the island don’t realize how special this club is and how great the courses are,” said Rasmussen. “Depending on how much you travel around the world, many players and vacationers leave the country feeling like they have experienced something they may never experience again.”
