Our Story
The Beginning of Edmonton Junior Tennis Society
The organization which championed the Mission ‘to inspire kids to fall in love with tennis’ came into being in 2010 as an Edmonton-based pilot of a Tennis Canada initiative called ‘Little Aces’. Little Aces aimed to bring more children into the sport of tennis by offering affordable and accessible lesson programs led by professional coaches. In 2012, when Tennis Canada re-purposed the Little Aces brand, the pilot was moved under the auspices of a not-for-profit society called Edmonton Junior Tennis Society (EJTS). In 2018 EJTS hired a new Executive Director who pursued growth and sustainability by adding coaching development and mentoring to the organization’s scope. She expanded capacity by employing young beginner coaches, reducing cost while retaining quality by ensuring that all lead coaches were certified through the Tennis Professionals Association of Canada (TPA). EJTS also became a perfect training and development environment for young coaches.
'TO INSPIRE KIDS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH TENNIS'
After the Pandemic
Having survived COVID19 in 2020-2021 by maintaining social media contact with its customer base, EJTS looked to build greater awareness of tennis and its accessibility in Edmonton by partnering with Edmonton EXPO Centre to put together a half day free celebration of tennis called TENNISfest. To more effectively include adults as well as children, EJTS invited a sister not-for-profit organization called Tennis Edmonton Association to help bring the first event to life, attracting 400 participants in June 2022.
'TENNISFEST IS A CELEBRATION OF TENNIS IN EDMONTON'
The Revival of Tennis Edmonton
Tennis Edmonton Association started in 2007 as a not-for-profit organization with the sole purpose of organizing Interclub League, a competition where teams of different Edmonton area clubs played against each other. After interest in the Interclub League waned, Tennis Edmonton (TE) was revived in 2019 with a new mission to promote tennis as an inclusive sport in Edmonton for people of all ages, skills, and backgrounds, and to provide the opportunity for everyone to realize their full playing potential. The already existing Edmonton Tennis Meetup group was amalgamated into Tennis Edmonton and became the main platform for organizing and marketing events, including weekly recurring Meet & Hits, social tournaments, and box leagues. Thanks to the successful application for different grants, Tennis Edmonton was able to provide outreach programs in collaboration with partners such as the Newcomer Centre of Edmonton, Wheelchair Sports Alberta, and the Greenshack program with the City of Edmonton to provide free events for kids and adults to try tennis. Working together with EJTS to organize TENNISfest was a logical extension of these outreach efforts.
'A NEW MISSION TO PROMOTE TENNIS AS AN INCLUSIVE SPORT'
Edmonton Tennis Community is Born
This first joint venture led to the realization that EJTS and TE had overlapping goals and interests. In 2023, the decision was made to merge EJTS and TE into a new entity, now called Edmonton Tennis Community Association, to become the one-stop-shop for everything related to tennis in Edmonton. The organizations merged operationally and financially in 2024 and registered the new name legally in 2025. Edmonton Tennis Community (ETC) continues to provide lesson programs, Meet & Hits, tournaments, leagues, and outreach programs for kids and adults, and aims to grow to provide even more playing opportunities for tennis lovers in Edmonton. The fourth annual TENNISfest in June 2025 attracted 625 participants and engaged most Edmonton-area tennis clubs as well as equipment vendors and five contributing sponsors.