Some of the cast and crew of "Blue Love" as well as representatives of iFilmGroup were on location at the Chatham Healthplex to film a short scene for "Blue Love" involving one of the main characters of the film Dr. Fairbanks (played by iFilmGroup Member Mary Ellen Herder). The scene involved Herder's character playing “Pop Tennis” in a gym, as she finishes her game she goes to take a drink and towel off and sees a message on her phone. That message is from the lead character Kaitlyn Butler (played by iFilmGroup acting coach Helena Rose).
The scene involves several extras from the Chatham area who were other players of the sport of Pop Tennis spanning three courts of the gym. The fellow players were members of the Chatham Tennis Club and the Chatham Pop Tennis Club. The extra’s ranged from teens to seniors and all ages in the middle. Proving the sport of Pop Tennis goes across generations.
The question that is coming up in many minds is what is Pop Tennis? Pop Tennis is a scaled-down version of traditional tennis. It is the new POPular type of tennis with a twist on paddle tennis which dates back to 1898. It is being played across the USA and around the world. POP Tennis is Tennis just played on shorter tennis courts with shorter and solid racquets and lower compression tennis balls. It uses the same scoring and rules as tennis -except for one underhand serve. Pop Tennis Canada is a newly formed Pop Tennis Club established by Rob Herder in Chatham Ontario and is the first and only established Pop Tennis Club in Canada. More information can be found on the new sport at https://www.poptenniscanada.com/
Many of the traditional tennis players the Chatham Tennis Club have made the transition to the sport or did very quickly for filming. The Chatham tennis club has approx. 120 members, 4 lighted tennis courts, clubhouse and offer both Youth and Adult programs and lessons.
“It was cool to bring these players and this new sport into the film in a creative way for the scene,” says Marshall. He said the group was great to work with and much mentoring was going on between players on how to play the sport as well as them taking in and asking questions about the filming process and how film making works. A number of the players there though it was an interesting experience that they learned a lot from. This was one of about eight remaining filming dates for Blue Love. The film is drawing to a close and will be wrapped soon, although Marshall feels it will still be till about October before they finish filming with working around various schedules.
PR-BL-PT-09-03-2018