Metis at Play – Sports and Sportsmen

Metis is a quiet summer community that is full of active people. Golf and tennis are the sports of choice. Cycling and fishing are popular. Sailing and swimming are reserved for the courageous. New sports like wind-surfing were hip for a while but have given way to kite-surfing and paddle-boarding, both extreme sports in the St. Lawrence where the water is cool and the river rarely calm.

Black and white photograph of two men in suits fishing for trout at the foot of a waterfall. Both banks of the stream are rocky. In the background a steep rocky cliff is partially covered by a forest.

The falls of the Cascade stream was a favourite spot for fishermen.

Metis has long been a paradise for athletes. The mantlepiece of many homes and the trophy boards of the Cascade Golf and Tennis Club illustrate the sporting culture that has been dominant for more than a century. Pity the poor summer resident who prefers daytime reading to hours on the court or the golf course!

Black and white photograph of the first tee of the Cascade Golf Club. Twenty individuals dressed in the fashion of 1914 watch and wait. Some women are sitting on the grass. In the background, a two-storey cottage with clean Victorian architecture.

Golfers teeing off from in front of Buttercup Cottage.

There are winter sportsmen as well. The hockey rink that once flanked the Metis Beach School was where local figures displayed their talent and competed with nearby teams. Bowling and darts are the sports most often practiced in the winter months today, although dog-walking and snow-clearing run a close second in popularity.

Sephia image of five young hockey players on an outdoor skating rink in Metis.

The Little Metis Hockey Club competed in the region’s hockey league.

A few sports are for the mind. Bridge is a card game to some, but a competitive sport for others. Some community members became so proficient at bridge as to make it their profession.

Black and white photograph of the tennis courts at the Cascade Golf and Tennis Club. A high wooden fence surrounds the tennis court. Men, wearing white trousers and a white shirt, and women, wearing a long white skirt in a white shirt with long sleeves and wearing a hat, play tennis. On the left side is the club house.

The Cascade Tennis Club in Metis boasted a large number of tennis courts to satisfy the athletic enthusiasm of men and women players.

Sports are a mirror of society. With each generation the sports we play evolve. So too do the clothes worn by the sporty. The clothing captured in period photographs allow us to pinpoint with near perfect accuracy the decade athletes were at play.

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