Tilly Rigby and Gaurav Dogra
On April 1, the Cricket Club took part in the 3rd Annual 10-hour Play it Forward Tennis-a-Thon , in support of the Doug Philpott Inner-City Children’s Tennis Fund, a charity that promotes health, physical and moral well-being for kids across Toronto. The charity offers summer tennis camps free-of-charge to over 8,000 children, aged 5-15, living in priority needs neighborhoods.
With over 100 participants, ages 6 years old and above, lots of noise and excitement filled the bubble from 2pm all the way to midnight. Almost everyone managed to stay all 10 hours, including the youngest participants who were staying awake much past than their bedtime!
At around 7pm, all the kids got to take a break to enjoy an amazing meal and listen to some music chosen by members of the event committee. Then, at around 10pm, there was a pizza break ,courtesy of Pizzaville, for those who hung on and stayed for the night.
From hitting trick shots and getting stick-on tattoos, to playing King of the Court and B.O.B, the night was filled with excitement and lots of fun. A highlight for many people was when the Committee pulled a classic prank on one of the head coaches, Jamie; the older kids dumped a large gatorade bucket filled with water on the soon-to-be flustered coach late in the night.
While the kids were playing games, a PUB-BLE was arranged for
the adults, along with several prizes that the adults could bid on in the silent auction. These prizes were donated from a variety of different organizations and
individuals, and included tickets to the Toronto Maple Leafs, various sports jerseys, wine baskets, a super-sized tennis racquet, and even a 3-course meal from 8-year old Tennis-a-Thon participant and aspiring chef, Aidan!
A new addition this year was a Tennis-a-Thon Junior Committee, which was made up of 16 Cricket Club kids, who contributed some fantastic ideas! For example, they designed the event t-shirts, ran the photo booth and the tattoo station, and helped manage the kids throughout the night!
All in all, it was a great 10 hours and it couldn’t have been done without the Junior Committee, the parents and coaches. A special thank you goes out to the entire Parent Committee and the Junior Committee Co-Chairs, Emily Dimonte and Pedro Azevedo, for truly making this event possible. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported an amazing cause! And congratulations to all of the participants who PLAYED IT FORWARD!
