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Private Retreats

These residential court winners are examples of great form and function.

By Peter Francesconi

Call them the seven sisters of residential courts. These seven winners of the Racquet Sports Industry/American Sports Builders Association 2004 Facility-of-the-Year Awards are all gorgeous examples of the best of residential court construction, all from seven different contractors.

Each of these projects is new construction. Four of the winners utilized acrylic hard-court surfaces; the other three are soft courts, using Lee Tennis products. All three soft courts have sub-surface irrigation systems, which keep the surfaces watered properly and also help to conserve water.

The owners of five of the properties opted to install lights for night play, while three of the four hard-court projects added basketball hoops to get double-duty from the surface. Only one of the seven (Lexington, Mass.) included a backboard.

The most significant obstacles to construction appeared to be in handling drainage and flooding problems. In some instances, retaining walls and dry wells needed to be installed to keep excess water off the courts.

As you can see from the photos, contractors, working with owners, showed their creativity in creating landscaping, retaining walls, and fencing. In one instance, for the court in Palm Beach, Fla., a 20-foot portion of the fence was installed on rollers, so it can be slid out of the way to not impede the view from the house.

But creating beautiful views is what it’s all about for these sisters.

Lexington, Mass.
(Nominated by Cape & Island Tennis & Track, Pocasset, Mass.)
Contractor: Cape & Island Tennis & Track
Surface: Plexipave (California Products)
Backboard: Bakko Bak Bord
Lighting: Courtsider Sports Lighting Aerosystem (LSI Industries)
Fencing: Cape & Island Tennis & Track

Greensboro, N.C.
(Nominated by Oehler Court Co. Inc., Dunham, N.C.)
Contractor: Oehler Court Co.
Architect/Engineer: Al Davis
Surface: Hydro Court (Lee Tennis)
Lighting: LSI
Nets & Net Posts: J.A. Cissel Manufacturing

Morgantown, Pa.
(Nominated by Horizon Sports Group, Coopersburg, Pa.)
Contractor: Horizon Sports Group
Surface: Nova Sports
Lighting: Techlight
Nets & Posts: Ball Products

New Vernon, N.J.
(Nominated by The Racquet Shop Inc., Colts Neck, N.J.)
Contractor: the Racquet Shop Inc.
Surface: Har Tru (Lee Tennis)

Palm Beach, Fla.
(Nominated by Fast Dry Courts, Pompano Beach, Fla.)
Architect/Engineer/Contractor: Fast Dry Courts
Surface: Lee Hydroblend (Lee Tennis)
Lighting: TE 1000 (RLS Lighting)
Subsurface Irrigation: Lee Tennis
Net Posts, Line Tapes: Lee Tennis
Windscreens, Net: BP International
Trench Drain: Zurn Industries

Rye, N.Y.
(Nominated by DeRosa Tennis Contractors Inc., Mamaroneck, N.Y.)
Contractor: DeRosa Tennis Contractors, Inc.
Surface: Deco Systems
Net Posts: Lee Tennis
Net: J.A. Cissel Manufacturing

West Linn, Ore.
(Nominated by Atlas Track & Tennis, Tualatin, Ore.)
Contractor: Atlas Track & Tennis
Surface: Plexipave (California Products)
Net & Strap: Court 1 Sports Inc.

See all articles by Peter Francesconi

About the Author

Peter Francesconi is editorial director of RSI magazine.

From the May 2005 issue
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