When Bear Mountain’s clay-court tennis facility opens to the public this weekend, it will add another amenity to the resort. But it will also plant a flag for the game of tennis in the region, as the largest red-clay-court facility in Canada.
“This is a huge asset to our community,” said Robert Bettauer, chief executive of the Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence, and one of the driving forces behind the $4-million project.
Bettauer, who played for Canada in the Davis Cup, said the courts won’t just offer a unique opportunity to play on red clay — they mean Victoria can play host to Tennis Canada and Tennis B.C. camps and international events.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have a visionary in this community like Dan Matthews, who can help realize a vision like this,” he said. “[Victoria] punches way above its weight class in terms of what we can offer for sport and physical activity.”
Matthews, the chief executive of resort owner Ecoasis, said when he bought the resort in 2013 that he intended to invest heavily to re-establish it as a world-class destination and residential community that would eventually house 10,000 people.
To that end, the resort, located atop Skirt Mountain in Langford and Highlands, invested millions in improving its two Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses, upgrading its fitness centre, establishing a comprehensive cycling-trail system and establishing Bear Mountain as the home of a number of national athletic teams.
Matthews also promised a world-class clay-court tennis facility that would be on par with its golf offerings.
Russ Hartley, director of tennis at Bear Mountain, said the new courts will be more than a sporting amenity. “What we want to develop here is to bring the club atmosphere back,” he said during a media tour of the facility ahead of the weekend grand opening. “When there’s a club, you develop a community of people who get to know each other. They come down each day, play in the morning, eat lunch, and play again in the afternoon.”
Hartley, who came to the resort after 30 years as director of tennis with the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club, said since the Racquet Club went into receivership in the 1980s, there has been no year-round tennis club on the southern part of the Island,.
The tennis club at Bear Mountain already boasts 115 founding members, with a waiting list of about 90 hoping to join.
According to Sean Hartley, Russ’s son and Bear Mountain’s lead tennis professional, those members are from all over the Island, from as far north as Nanaimo, through Mill Bay and from all over Greater Victoria. “This is the only red clay, indoor/outdoor facility in Canada. Red clay is the most popular surface in the world, but it’s not common here at all. This is a product no one else has.”
That will have piqued Tennis Canada’s interest, as it will allow its best players to train at home on a surface they will have to play on around the world.
And according to Russ Hartley, because clay is more forgiving on the joints and tends to slow the ball and create longer rallies, it will be a unique experience for players at all skill levels.
“Most people around here have never played on clay — this is not just another set of eight hard courts,” he said. “Once they play on it, they realize it’s so good on the body, they can play for hours.”
The facility’s courts are complete and fenced, though work is continuing on the periphery to eventually create a pavilion and clubhouse. This fall, work will begin to establish the structure for a winter bubble to cover the courts in bad weather.
There is a private opening event for founding members of the club on Saturday, but on Sunday, a grand opening is scheduled for the general public between noon and 4 p.m., with open courts for anyone to try the new surface.
