2019 Awards
Photos by Jag Gundhu
March 2019
March 2019
Jackie has been involved with the sport of tennis for close to 40 years since 1980. Jackie’s initial involvement in tennis commenced at the Picton Tennis Club where she held the positions of President and Tournament Director from 1980 – 1983. During her tenure she organized summer tennis tournaments and chaired Board meetings to develop interest in tennis and maintain the club.
After relocating to Toronto, Jackie quickly became involved with the Gwendolen Park Tennis Club and served as its Tournament Director from 1995-2000 and Vice President in 2001. While at Gwendolen her main responsibilities included serving as House League Captain and organizing social events. In December 1996, Jackie became a Director of the North York Tennis Association (NYTA) and served in this capacity until 1999, then became Vice President from 2000-2005 and President from 2006 – 2008. As NYTA President, she also sat on the board of the OTA as their regional representative. At the conclusion of her term as NYTA President, Jackie remained on the OTA board and assumed the role of VP Marketing & Communications for five years from 2010 – 2015.
Jackie Sheehy truly embodies the quintessential spirit of the word volunteerism and her leadership skills are befitting of the OTA’s Distinguished Service Award.
Todd has made significant contributions to tennis over the past 17 years and to this day serves as President of both the Gwendolen Park Tennis Club and the North York Winter Tennis Club. He began his involvement as a tennis volunteer in 2002, serving as House League chair at Gwendolen Park where he organized teams and captains and handled the scheduling and awards night. Soon after, he became President. It is because of Todd’s tireless efforts that Gwendolen Park Tennis Club has been the only community club in Toronto to have an additional court built at no cost to the club members. He and his committee worked day and night to secure the needed funding for this huge project. It took several years of dedication to convince the City to expand this site while also completely refurbishing the clubhouse at the same time. Today it is one of the most viable clubs in the North York Tennis Association.
His success at the local club level was noticed by the NY Winter Tennis Club and Todd was invited to bring his expertise to this Board. Todd became a Board member in 2012 and immediately began using his extensive legal background to help develop new club policies. He has served as NY Winter Tennis Club President since 2016 and is currently working on future expansion opportunities. It is with great pleasure we honour Todd’s contributions with the Distinguished Service Award.
Mark is a well-known and highly regarded member of the tennis community in Ottawa. His contributions are significant and diverse, and he has been giving back to the tennis community for more than 50 years. Tennis participation began in High School when he became a member of the Deep River Yacht and Tennis Club and played through his school and university years. This is where he started giving back to the community when he joined the Junior Tennis Committee and began to organize tournaments and events. This continued while he was at the University of Toronto where he organized the college intramural tournament.
He moved to Ottawa in 1969 and joined the Rideau Tennis Club where he is now approaching his 50th anniversary as a member. Mark’s contributions to the club were commemorated by a special recognition award given to him in 2012. Mark continues to contribute to the tennis community as a player, volunteer and official. He is the go-to person for local tournaments and can often be seen in the chair umpiring the finals at the City Championships and other high-profile events.
In 2018, Mark became a member of the NCTA’s Junior Development Committee which organizes fund-raising events and managers a fund of money that is targeted to support top juniors in the City. A truly exceptional contribution and well deserving of the OTA’s Distinguished Service Award.
The Bruce Childs Volunteer Awards are provided to OTA member clubs to help them recognize volunteers who have made a significant contribution to tennis at the club level. In 2017 the following clubs recognized the listed people with these awards.
| Club Name | Award Winners |
|---|---|
| Applewood TC | David Vieyra |
| Bolton TC | Dave Elliott and Rob Marks |
| Brighton TC | Kam Singh |
| City View TC | Lei Zhang |
| Curran Hall TC | Lesley Moore |
| Don Mills TC | Debbie Drainie, Nigel McClean and Alexey Kutsevalov |
| East Gwillimbury TC | Yvonne Marleau and Mark Maclean |
| Fountainhead TC | Melvin Canete |
| General Burns TC | Jason Stanley |
| Glendale TC | Rika Jacoby |
| Grimsby TC | Sue Henry, Don Eastman and Anthony Serafini |
| Gwendolen Park TC | Philippa Sutcliffe |
| Nobleton TC | Lynda McDonell |
| Oro Medonte TC | Tamara Scearce |
| Petawawa TC | Khaled BHS |
| Port Perry TC | Ken Wilson |
| Rockcliffe TC | Paul Henry |
| Scarborough Bluffs TC | Kevin Im, Doug Quesnel and Colette Boileau |
| Stephen Leacock TC | Natalie Wong |
| St. James TC | Anne Marie Baxter |
| St. Thomas TC | John Laing |
| Thunder Bay TC | Maryann Matson |
| Tournament Park TC | Margaret Cathers, Ian Federman and Christina Lawrence |
| Uxbridge TC | Lisa Edwards and Dana Hewson |
| West Rouge TC | Michele Stratton |
| Whitby TC | Mary Shea |
| Wishing Well TC | Marina Mihailovich and Louise Figueira |