Long before his two terms as an Alberta MLA, his seven years in Canada's Senate, or even his 1985 run for the provincial Progressive Conservative party leadership, Ron Ghitter was a tennis player.
Born in Calgary and raised in Edmonton, Mr. Ghitter's first job at 13 was turning a hockey rink into a tennis court for summer play in the Edmonton community of Garneau. It worked this way: Mr. Ghitter would layer red shale on top of the cement and then water and roll the surface until it lay flat before then taping the lines. In college, he paid for his undergrad studies and law school by teaching tennis.
As a grad travelling the world, Mr. Ghitter always had a Dunlop Maxply in his backpack. Wherever he was, tennis was the link to meeting new people.
Later in life, Mr. Ghitter moved back to Calgary and about a decade ago he decided he wanted to give something back to the sport that did so much for him.
Seeing his adopted city of Calgary so badly underserved when it came to tennis facilities, Mr. Ghitter launched a campaign to build a state-of-the-art complex that would serve two purposes: It would increase the availability of courts to the tennis-playing public and become the home of a high-end grassroots program that might one day produce another Milos Raonic or Genie Bouchard.
"The future of tennis in this country revolves around having indoor tennis facilities," said Mr. Ghitter. "You can't develop tennis players, playing five months out of doors in the summer."
Now 80, Mr. Ghitter's 10-year labour of love is finally coming to fruition later this month. Officially, the Osten & Victor Tennis Centre, which will feature eight indoor and five outdoor courts, opens on June 18, after a soft launch back in mid-May.
A rendering of the Osten & Victor Tennis Centre
City council approved a long-term lease on the land, which is just across from the Acadia Recreation Complex in southeast Calgary, for a nominal annual sum. The centre will be home to a Tennis Canada national junior training program that will also serve the top junior players from the area.
"The beauty of this is, it's non-profit; it's under the control of local tennis people and Tennis Canada, and it will always be here, because it's on a long-term lease from the city," said Mr. Ghitter, a former member of Tennis Canada's board of directors and the driving force behind bringing Davis Cup matches to Calgary a decade ago.
"Tennis Canada will provide a high-performance pro, and maybe more than one, and when they see kids coming along, they'll get them special attention, in the hopes that they'll move up the ladder."
Danny Da Costa, a former teaching pro who previously worked with Steven Diez, one of Canada's up-and-coming men's players, is the facility's general manager, after previously serving as CEO of Squash Canada.
Decades ago, Calgary produced some high-end tennis players, from Nick Mohtadi to Albert Chang, both of whom qualified to play Wimbledon in the open era. But it's been a while since anyone's come down the pipeline from southern Alberta. The hope is that may now change.
"What we're trying to do is build high-end quality programs," said Mr. Da Costa. "We've studied all the best programs, not only in the country but internationally, to develop best practices, looking at what they do that distinguishes their programs and helps to produce players.
"One of the things we'll be putting here eventually is technology – cameras on the court, advanced analytics, break down video. That's a real game changer. A lot of coaching has always been with a basket of balls – very traditional. Now we can do something that's pretty unique."
The province kicked in $2.4-million and Tennis Canada added a half-million more towards a project with a $9.5-million budget. Mostly, though, it's been Mr. Ghitter putting the arm on local philanthropists to get the project funded.
It is still about $450,000 short, so Mr. Ghitter's work isn't completely done. Given the struggles of the oil patch, this is not a great time to try to raise funds, but Mr. Ghitter is convinced that he will eventually be able to raise the shortfall.
"I'm still knocking on doors," he said. "It's not a good time to be out raising money in Calgary at all – and Calgary is a very good city for that, a very generous city, but the economic times are what they are. We've been there before in Calgary – but not like this. This has got some legs to it."
According to Mr. Ghitter, once the decision was made to go forward with the facility, he wanted everything to be state of the art.
All the courts are equipped with the latest technological advancements to support teaching as well as lighting that meets international standards for competition.
Ron Ghitter at the new Osten & Victor Tennis Centre.
Jeff McIntosh/For The Globe and Mail
"I said from the start, 'We need to have the best of lighting and the best of surfaces from a tennis players' point of view or why go to all the trouble?'" said Mr. Ghitter. "So we can play top-rated tournaments here – Futures, Challengers and the like. They're all over us to host more tournaments."
But the facility is designed to accommodate more than just elite players. Weekend warriors are welcome, too.
"We'll have beginner programs all the way up to high-performance programs for all age groups," said Mr. Da Costa, "so there'll be something for everyone. We really carefully planned the whole structure – there are daytime leagues, nighttime leagues, inter-club competitions. There'll be lots of opportunities to get on the court."