Lawrence Strong C.M.
Major Accomplishments
Davis Cup captain in 1970 and 1971. In 1970, Canada reached the final eight of the competition (the final of the American Zone), Canada’s second best result ever. As a consequence, was instrumental in helping to found the Coaching Association of Canada.
Chairman of CLTA Player Development from 1973-1981.
Worked with Ken Sinclair and Klaus Bindhardt in building the first tennis centre at York University which opened in 1976.
President of the CLTA from 1976-78. During this time the decision was made to “re-brand” the Canadian Lawn Tennis Association as Tennis Canada.
Chair of the Canadian Open in Toronto 1982-84 and served on the Executive Committee of the Montreal event. Over this period, the profits from the two events quadrupled.
Biography
Lawrie Strong was born and raised in England and started playing tennis at an early age. He represented Middlesex in inter-county competition from 1956 to 1962. He played for the University of London and captained their tennis team in 1959/1960. He also represented England in tennis in 1961 and played in the prestigious Wimbledon Championships in 1960 and 1961. He and his bride Vivienne came to Canada in 1962 on their honeymoon.
When Strong moved to Canada, he became immediately immersed into tennis. As a player, he won several Ontario doubles titles in both men’s and mixed events. He also won the Canadian Open mixed in 1968 with his wife Vivienne and the Canada Games Mixed Gold Medal in 1969, also with his wife.
Strong was involved with the Ontario Lawn Tennis Association (now the Ontario Tennis Association) from 1968 until 1980. He was Chairman of Player Development and Vice President in 1968 and 1969, President 1970-72 and a member of the Teaching Professionals Committee 1970-80. He was responsible for the creation of a strategic framework for tennis growth and excellence in the province, for launching the publication Ontario Tennis and for setting up the first full-time staff to run the Association.
“He wanted to get tennis on a par with other major sports and he set up a committee I chaired to bring instructional teaching to a level of certifiable competence by introducing practical and written exams,” said Peter Dimmer, Racquets of Canada, May 1985 edition written by Chris Endemann. “There is no question he was the main architect in Ontario- he made it much easier for the rest of us to achieve our goals as teachers and coaches. After years of the blind leading the blind, he emerged as a guiding light and his overall contribution should not be underestimated,” added Dimmer.
Chairman of CLTA Player Development from 1973-1981. During this time, led the creation of Canada’s first, comprehensive strategic plan for Player Development and critically began its implementation. This included hiring Canada’s first National Coach, introducing a national program of certification of coaches and instructors, hiring a Technical Director, organizing substantially increased travel to international competition for élite young players as well as holding intensive training camps, opening the first of what was seen as a series of regional training centres at York University, and launching a Tennis Performance Award Scheme to assist the Provinces in grass roots development.
Strong was a member of the CLTA governing council from 1967-1985 and had various responsibilities in addition to those mentioned above – Chairman Public Relations, Chairman of Federation Cup and Davis Cup Selection and Referee Canadian Open in 1970.The most important of these was as Canada’s representative to the ITF for almost a decade.