James Grieve

1.      My name is James Grieve and I am an Elite Professional certified Tennis Professional with the RSPA and a Pickleball Professional. I grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario and after watching Boris Becker win Wimbledohn in 1985 went out to the courts and started playing tennis. As a junior player I was very successful wining all tournaments at the local level and was one of the top ranked juniors in the city. In 1989 I won the boys u18 singles Mid Canada Open which was a provincial level junior tournament.

     Mt tennis teaching career started of with a small job as a junior development instructor at our local tennis club. In 1992 I was hired on as an assistant pro and in 1993 I was also an assistant pro but also was the director for the City Courts program and taught all of the lessons at all of the public courts program. I also was an assistant pro in 1995,1996 and 1997.
     In 1998 I won the Mid Canada Open men's singles and doubles titles and had a career best ranking of #5 in Ontario for Men's Open Singles. I was also the first local player to win that title for over 20 years. I also won the the Men's Open Singles title again in 2000.
     In 1999 I received a Pro 1 Certification with the USPTA. From 2000 to present I have been the Head Pro/ Manager of the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre. It is a 9 court facility with a club house and pro shop. Over the 10 years I have helped boost membership and participation numbers and have seen various players continue on to the realm of college tennis. I was recognized for my work in tennis by the Ontario Tennis Association and Tennis Canada as a Community Champion in 2003 and have attended 5 national workshops. I have also attended 7 USTA northern section community development workshops on tennis. I was 1 of the first 2 Communities in Canada to take on the Tennis Canada's Team Tennis Format for children with Progressive tennis court sizes.