Sporting dynasties within the local high school ranks have long been a way of life: the basketball dominance of Lasalle Secondary, the boys hockey program at St. Charles College, gymnastics at Collège Notre-Dame.
How about tennis at Bishop Alexander Carter?
The small, catholic Valley East school sent no less than five players among the nine-athlete SDSSAA contingent that made the trek to the Rexall Centre on the campus of York University earlier this week to take part in the 2012 OFSAA Tennis Championships.
This marks at least the second consecutive year BAC has been represented at provincials, with the always-busy courts at Elmview Playground apparently paying dividends.
Currently 16 years old, Grade 11 Gator Jason Boudreau has spent much of his youth playing a wide variety of sports, first introduced to tennis by a friend from the Valley.
Competing in the doubles ranks one year ago, but having started to play more regularly at the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre, Boudreau made the jump to go it alone this year.
"I thought I would go singles because I knew I had a chance," Boudreau said. "My footwork, my forehand and my serve have all improved since starting to take lessons. My forehand is my strong point."
Both the city and NOSSA final would pit Boudreau against a very familiar foe, with Akshay Varghese of Lo-Ellen often providing the opposition when the two friends play games at the Indoor facility.
Making his first trip to OFSAA, Boudreau tries to keep his expectations in check.
"I'm just going for the experience and hopefully to do as well as I can."
For the Bishop Carter men's doubles team of Josh Harkins and Cameron Desjardins, this is familiar territory.
The long-time friends made their first OFSAA appearance one year ago, finishing seventh in a field of 34 teams.
"It was nerve-wracking at first," Harkins said. "We had a tough go in our first game, but we ended up coming back and won five matches in a row."
Now in their second year of teaming to play doubles, the BAC tandem ventured away from the singles games for very practical reasons.
"We used to play at the tennis courts at Elmview with a bunch of friends and it was a lot easier to get a lot of people involved playing doubles," Harkins said.
"And I don't have enough skill to play singles," Desjardins added with a smile.
Truth be told, this talented duo absolutely cruised through the SDSSAA and NOSSA championships, having now taken time to add the benefits of a handful of tennis lessons to their repertoire.
Still, when it comes to matching up with the truly elite, those teams that crack the top three provincially, there is still a ways to go.
"Their serves are unbelievable, they come to the net every point, the points are so quick," Desjardins said. "We're just not at that level quite yet — we're getting there."
With Desjardins the more skilled of the two at the net, and Harkins excelling from the backcourt, the Gators pairing has clearly learned some of the keys to success.
"Doubles is a lot of teamwork, a lot of communication and good net play," Harkins said. "You want to finish the point quickly."
While Desjardins graduates from Bishop Carter later this month, the school appears a good bet to three-peat in men's doubles play in 2013.
Boudreau has indicated that he is likely to team with Harkins a year from now, making the team the early favourite on both a local and northern Ontario front. Boudreau, Desjardins and Harkins are joined, this year, by schoolmates Bruce McKee and James Snow, also representing NOSSA in Toronto.
Other local players taking part in the OFSAA Tennis Championships include Varghese in men's singles, Sally Ross of Lockerby in ladies singles, Pascale Lavergne-Giroux/Kyle Hartman in mixed doubles and the Marymount pairing of Michelle Filipovic and Krysta Burns in girls double play.
Posted by Laurel Myers
