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Head of the Class

RSI and the ASBA bring you the best in tennis court construction.

By Peter Francesconi

We have again joined forces with the American Sports Builders Association to bring you examples of excellence in court construction.

Each year, based on entries submitted by an ASBA member, whether a contractor, designer, or supplier, the association selects outstanding tennis facilities that meet the standard of excellence determined by the judging committee.

For the 2005 contest, 25 courts or tennis facilities were deemed to be outstanding by the panel of judges. Two, however, were chosen for special honors: the Princeton University Tennis Complex in Princeton, N.J., was named the Tennis Facility of the Year, and the indoor facility at Sunset Athletic Club in Beaverton, Ore., was selected as the Multipurpose Indoor Facility of the Year.

The Princeton Tennis Complex, completed in July 2005, added 15 new courts to the existing eight-court facility. The new courts are in two groupings, one for faculty and alumni use and the other for students. The student grouping is made up of two court batteries of four and five courts, with a spectator plaza between them. The faculty grouping is made up of two three-court batteries, one of soft courts and one of hard.

Between the two student batteries is a historic pavilion that was relocated and reassembled from another location on campus. The pavilion includes a water fountain, emergency communications, and spectator areas on two levels. The tight site conditions made it necessary to use retaining walls rather than sloped landscaped areas.

The Sunset Athletic Club indoor multipurpose facility was an upgrade to the existing structure and included three new indoor tennis courts, basketball courts, climbing wall, running track, and cardio and exercise rooms. The high winter water table meant that an underground drainage moat had to be built to direct water to a filter and storage tube 4 feet in diameter and 400 feet long. The project was completed in the winter of 2005.

Princeton University Tennis Complex, Princeton, N.J.

Architect/Engineer: Global Sports & Tennis Design Group, Fair Haven, N.J.
Specialty Contractor: Sportsline and All Star Tennis Court Co.
Surface: California Products Corp.
Lighting: Courtsider Sports Lighting
Windscreens: J.A. Cissel

Indoor Multi-Purpose Facility at Sunset Athletic Club, Beaverton, Ore.
Specialty Contractor: Atlas Track & Tennis, Tualatin, Ore.
Surface: California Products Corp.
Curtains/Divider Nets: M. Putterman & Co.
Tennis Nets: Edwards, Div. of Collegiate Pacific
Other Supplier: Robbins Inc.

Taking the Prize

In addition to the Princeton University Tennis Complex and the Sunset Athletic Club, these 23 locations were chosen by the 2005 panel of judges for the ASBA as outstanding examples of court construction. You’ll read more about them in upcoming issues of Racquet Sports Industry. (The nominating company is in parentheses.)

• Chippewa Resort Tennis Facility, Manitowish Waters, Wis. (Munson Inc.)
• Emory University Indoor Tennis Facility, Atlanta (Lower Bros.)
• Green Valley Country Club, Lafayette Hills, Pa. (Pro-Sport Construction)
• Heathrow Country Estates Tennis Facility, Sorrento, Fla. (Fast-Dry Cos.)
• Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club, Dade City, Fla. (Welch Tennis Courts)
• Lion’s Paw, Oakley, Utah (Welch Tennis Courts)
• Oaks at Boca Raton Tennis Center, Boca Raton, Fla. (Welch Tennis Courts)
• Ottawa Township High School, Ottawa, Ill. (Global Sports & Tennis Design Group)
• Palencia Tennis Center, St. Augustine, Fla. (Welch Tennis Courts)
• Residential Court, Gywnedd, Pa. (Pro-Sport Construction)
• Residential Court, Harbour Island, Eleuthera, Bahamas (Fast-Dry Cos.)
• Residential Court, Lemon Heights, Calif. (Zaino Tennis Courts)
• Residential Court, Miami (Fast-Dry Cos.)
• Residential Court, Norwell, Mass. (Boston Tennis Court Construction Co.)
• River Oaks Country Club, Houston (Welch Tennis Courts)
• Roxiticus Golf Club Tennis Facility, Mendham, N.J. (The Racquet Shop)
• Sacred Heart Schools Tennis Facility, Atherton, Calif. (Beals Alliance Inc.)
• Sandhills Community College Athletic Complex, Pinehurst, N.C. (Court One)
• Sebastian Municipal Park Tennis Facility, Sebastian, Fla. (Fast-Dry Cos.)
• St. George’s Senior Boys’ School, Vancouver, B.C. (Ocean Marker Sport Surfaces USA)
• University of Alabama Outdoor Tennis Facility, Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Lower Bros.)
• University of Hawaii at Monoa Tennis Complex, Honolulu (Applied Surfacing Technology)
• Vanderbilt University Outdoor Tennis Facility, Nashville, Tenn. (Lower Bros.)

For details of the 2006 Outstanding Tennis Facility Awards, contact the ASBA at 866-501-ASBA or info@sportsbuilders.org.

See all articles by Peter Francesconi

About the Author

Peter Francesconi is editorial director of RSI magazine.

From the January 2006 issue
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