The only Canadian tennis players at this year’s Senior Olympics are members of the St. Albert Tennis Club.
Hans Homfeldt and Ron Riley qualified for the National Senior Games as gold medallists in 65-plus men’s doubles at the 2010 Canada 55 Plus Senior Summer Games.
“Any time you have a chance to represent your club, your city, your province or your country it’s just phenomenal, especially your country,” said the 68-year-old Riley.
The Senior Olympics are under way in Houston, Tex.
“I’m really proud to represent Canada,” said the 72-year-old Homfeldt. “It’s a once in a lifetime experience. I feel real good about it.”
The doubles tournament is played indoors and features the state champions and the St. Albert duo.
“There is a lot of pressure, mainly because we don’t know how stiff the competition is but, knowing the Americans, I think it will be very, very stiff,” Riley said.
Their first round match is against Texas.
“We always go out to win. I like to win, just like Ron too,” Homfeldt said.
“We want to win and we want to get a medal,” added Riley. “If we play well and make a lot of friendships down there, that’s important too, but our goal is to win. That’s why we’re going.”
Homfeldt and Riley have played together at the club level and in local tournaments and the Senior Western Indoor National Championships.
“In doubles you have to play it for a long time and you have to know each other and we certainly do,” Homfeldt said. “Of course we’re always hoping we don’t get tough opponents on the other side of the net.”
They like attacking instead of sitting back for the other team to make a mistake.
“We both play a really aggressive game and it works out for both of us,” Homfeldt said. “We know which balls to go after and which ones not to. I can adjust really well and Ron too, so we get along pretty good. Sometimes we have to talk about certain things, but that’s more about making the other team worry about us more than anything.”
Their most successful tactic is rushing the net.
“I play backhand side because I have a two-handed backhand and that is my strength and Hans’ strength is his forehand so it works out pretty good. When they serve to his forehand he whips one back deep to their corner and we attack the net and go from there,” said Riley, a former employee with Seagram and McCain Foods who has lived in St. Albert since the early 1970s.
The road to Houston for Homfeldt and Riley started with a second place finish at the 2009 Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games in Airdrie.
“We were beat out by a team from Red Deer for the gold and the top two teams were allowed to go to the nationals,” Riley said. “Last summer we went to the nationals [in Brockville, Ont.] and by coincidence our first match was against the team from Red Deer but this time around we beat them so that was kind of neat. We finished the round robin with one loss to an Ontario team [Alan Cook and Ian Callaway]. One and two played for gold and silver and three and four played for bronze so we met the team that played us in the round robin for gold and low and behold we beat them. After that we got our invitation to go to the National Senior Games.”
Riley started playing tennis at age 32 and shows no signs of slowing down.
“I’ve won a number of tournaments around the province in my age group, which is very, very good,” said the grandfather of seven, including two in the youth development program at the St. Albert club. “But [the Senior Olympics] is so much higher than anything I‘ve ever done before and both Hans and I are very excited about that.”
Homfeldt added: “I’ve played tennis for more than 40 years and this is one of the biggest tournaments I’ve ever been to,” said the retired heavy duty mechanic with Weyerhaeuser. “After that I think I will shut everything down and go and do whatever.”
In the winter the grandfather of two visits Mesa, Ariz. and competes against players at his skill level, compared to his age level matches back home.
“I like all sports, but especially tennis. You get a good workout every time. It makes me feel good,” said Homfeldt, who immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1981 and has lived in St. Albert for five years.
Homfeldt and Riley received funding to attend the Senior Olympics through the City of St. Albert’s Games Legacy Award Program.
“We appreciate it very much. They were very, very nice about it,” Riley said.
