“It feels nice to step into a club that gives you the possibility to do what you love.”

– Grace Galanti

Here at Aforza, we know that tennis is good for the soul. Certainly, the sport has concrete health benefits such as improving vitals like strength and agility, metabolic and aerobic function and in turn, improving overall mental and physical health. However, we know it’s the family and the fun that really make the most impact.

Long-time member, Grace Galanti, can agree. She knows just how special the sport of tennis is after playing actively now for nearly 50 years. Grace can appreciate the health benefits she’s felt over these years, but she values the opportunity, friendships and humour most. She says, “Tennis has kept me physically agile as I get older, but it gives me some good laughs and allows me to get out and socialize. I play tennis mostly for fun, not challenges, but I am willing to hit the ball consistently.”

Her words of advice to other players? “Walk the court with a smile and a great attitude.”

Grace started playing tennis in the summer of 1972, along with the rest of the world enamored with this trending sport. She joined the Elbow Park Tennis Club and started taking her first lessons, familiarizing herself with strokes, court behavior and scoring. She felt the same fervor and, as she watched and played more and more matches, Grace was convinced that she could become a tennis champ as well. How’d it all turn out? You’ll have to ask her.

Grace joined Aforza in the early eighties, the Tennis Academy at that time, and started taking tennis lessons from its founder, Rico Policarpo. Flash forward to today, after years of playing with the best of the best, sharing the sport with her children and developing a family of life-long friends, Grace continues to play weekly. Her peers love her bold personality and social, upbeat attitude.

She appreciates the changes she seen over the years, and the facility improvements and renovations that have been completed by the Aforza team, especially as they’ve maintained her friend Rico’s legacy. Grace is a part of that history and the people who have made Aforza, and the legacy of tennis here in Calgary, possible.

Tennis is so much more than just a sport. Want to know more? Find Grace on the tennis courts here at Aforza with her favorite Wilson N1 Force racquet, killing it in her favorite Asics shoes. She’ll be the one having the most fun.