Tennis about to become exclusively a summer sport in Thunder Bay

The planned shutdown of the 'bubble', the existing sports complex and fitness centre at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ont., will effectively mean the end of indoor tennis in the northwestern Ontario city.

Plans for the school's new wellness centre, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2017, do not include indoor tennis courts and no other facility in Thunder Bay has them either.

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That will hurt the development of aspiring competitive tennis players in the city, according to Jamie Grieve, the club pro at the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre.

"Their development will slow dramatically," he told CBC News. "There's really no options, unless parents are going to take them down to tournaments in the United States, or travel to Winnipeg or travel to Toronto, there's not really anything you can do for indoor tennis."

"It's pretty hard to go and compete at a good provincial level if you're not practicing between tournaments," he continued, adding that recreational players will also be impacted.

Indoor courts have been proposed as part of a master plan for Chapples Park but Grieve said he's concerned about how long there mightbe no indoor facilities in the interim.

"We're going to be looking at meeting with the city in the fall, going over our business plan, and hopefully trying to fast-track some sort of a plan here and get indoor tennis in Thunder Bay quicker than later," he said, adding that he'd like to see a six-court facility built.

The Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre currently has about 400 members, he said, adding that number has about doubled since 2000.