Neil Wasylyshyn has competed in tennis his entire life, beginning in the Sask First tennis program in high school, followed by four years for the Minot State University team in North Dakota, and continuing until now.
Wasylyshyn, 47, finished off one of his best years ever in 2022 by winning the Moose Jaw Tennis Club tournament for the second year in a row.
He also took first place at the Provincial Open in Saskatoon on Aug. 1 — for the sixth year in a row.
“It was a clean sweep. It was a great year, one of my best ever,” Wasylyshyn told MooseJawToday.com.
Wasylyshyn played four years for the university team at Minot State University, where he played what he considers his highest-level tournaments. He was a finalist in his senior year at the 1999 Great Plains Regional Tennis Championship in Minot, N.D., losing to Ryan Kraft from the University of Mary after three hard-fought sets.
“If I’d won that match, I would have qualified for the NAIA National Tournament in Orlando, Florida,” Wasylyshyn remembers. “I actually had a tryout in 1994 at Boise State too, which is an NCAA Division One school, but unfortunately I didn’t make that team, that was very stiff competition.”
While at Minot State, Wasylyshyn won the conference doubles in 1997 with a partner from Montana.
He looks back fondly on 13 years playing in Vancouver, where he was a provincial finalist several times. In fact, he’s competed everywhere he’s lived — he just loves the sport, and he’ll never stop.
“The competitiveness, the exercise, the fitness, things like that,” Wasylyshyn said. “There’s a great group of people here at the Moose Jaw Tennis Club, that’s so important. … Our facilities are top notch. When we put on a tournament, it’s first-class, they put out the best potluck and the best treatment you can possibly ask for at this level of competition.
“It’s really a terrific place to play.”
