Appointed to the general management of Tennis Quebec at the beginning of December, Andréanne Martin arrives in the heart of a prosperous and sensitive period for tennis here. Its biggest objective is to give privileged access to it to as many people as possible, while making Quebec the Canadian benchmark. A huge challenge that she is ready to take up.
Eugenie, Félix, Leylah. Three players who can be recognized by their simple first name. This shows to what extent their impact on sport and popular culture in Quebec has had a monster effect. For the past eight years, all eyes on the tennis world have been watching what Canada is doing, especially in Quebec, to develop such good players. The good news is that the trend is on the rise and there will be other stars from Quebec on the world stage. Several others.
However, to realize the prophecy, Tennis Quebec must move forward in several aspects of its development. At least, this is the mission that Andréanne Martin gave herself when she came to head Tennis Quebec.
To achieve this, the key is to increase accessibility to inner centers. For Quebec players from all walks of life to develop successfully year round and climb the various Canadian rankings, young people must compete in tournaments and play more often. No one is going to reinvent the wheel, but it could be given more momentum.
The need is all the more obvious in the regions. Greater Montreal is relatively well equipped, a new six-court center was inaugurated in Quebec City last fall, but elsewhere, the offer is minimal and problematic, says Mr.me Martin.
In an ideal world, Tennis Quebec would have its own facilities, including a large indoor center where the federation could organize tournaments almost every weekend, in addition to offering training for coaches, officials and for sports activities. development.
Hooking on young people
Mme Martin also specifies that these centers would not be intended only for the development of elite and high performance players. She also wants young people between the ages of 7 and 10 to develop a taste for playing tennis. She wants children to be able to play at a reasonable cost, in quality infrastructures and, who knows, maybe one day integrate the various development programs. On the other hand, everything must start from a simple and direct access to sport.
Tennis is healthy in Quebec and training schools are booming. However, she wants the youngest to learn the discipline for fun, and not for the purely competitive aspect.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, PRESS ARCHIVES
Andréanne Martin, Executive Director of Tennis Québec
For 2022, a new direction has been proposed for tournaments among 10 and under, which will not focus on results, but on the pleasure of playing tennis and the pleasure of competing.
Andréanne Martin, Executive Director of Tennis Québec
In the same vein, the federation has bet on two aspects. On the one hand, the recruitment of young officials, who will be able to ensure the fun of the matches of the youngest. On the other hand, workshops for parents: “We really want to make parents aware of the fact that at 8 years old, if the child does not win, it really does not matter. The most important thing is that he is having fun and that he continues to love tennis, ”explained M.me Martin.
Attract municipalities
With the enthusiasm generated by the recent successes of Quebecers on the international scene and the pandemic that has forced the end of indoor team sports, tennis is enjoying a new lease of life.
Mme Martin believes that this effervescence will perhaps succeed in convincing certain municipalities to equip themselves with interior centers. In truth, the simple fact of maintaining the outdoor grounds well, creating clubs and integrating into the structure of Tennis Quebec would already be an excellent start, believes the general manager.
“We would like all the people who have recently started playing to join our structure, to become members, but we also want to increase our number of affiliated clubs. Indoor clubs as well as outdoor clubs. We offer different programs to our clubs. ”
A woman to pilot the ship
Arrival in succession to Jean-François Manibal, who had been general manager of the federation for the past 32 years, Andréanne Martin hopes that everyone will realize that the fate of women in the world of tennis matters in the eyes of Tennis Quebec.
Although the organization has always given pride of place to different women over the years, having one at the top of the pyramid sends a strong message, according to the main person concerned. Nonetheless, she is aware that there is still work to be done and she is already there.
We really need to increase the number of women at all levels. We need to have more female coaches, more female officials and more players in our college and university leagues.
Andréanne Martin, Executive Director of Tennis Québec
Before being appointed to her new functions, Mme Martin has notably been a coach for many years. She also gave several training courses, organized the Sports Experts tour in the early 2000s and, for six years, had been employed by Tennis Quebec.
She is therefore convinced that her long experience in the tennis world will be very useful to her in understanding the many challenges facing the Quebec scene.