Newly formed cracks cannot curb tennis players’ enthusiasm for resurfaced courts

November 4, 2009 — by Parul Singh and Jason Wu

Although the school recently invested money into resurfacing the tennis courts, small cracks have already formed. Although the cracks raise questions about the long-term durability of the tennis courts, the main purpose of the renovations was to make the courts "playable" again, assistant principal Joe Bosco said.

"We did a $24,000 emergency safety repair in anticipation of a full-scale renovation. The courts are now safe and that was our first priority, " said Bosco.

Although the school recently invested money into resurfacing the tennis courts, small cracks have already formed. Although the cracks raise questions about the long-term durability of the tennis courts, the main purpose of the renovations was to make the courts “playable” again, assistant principal Joe Bosco said.

“We did a $24,000 emergency safety repair in anticipation of a full-scale renovation. The courts are now safe and that was our first priority, ” said Bosco.

Even with their minor cosmetic flaws, the newly resurfaced courts still represent a huge improvement from the weeds and dirt that grew from the cracks in the courts last year.

“I think that renovating the tennis courts was the best thing that could have happened to the Saratoga tennis program, since after playing on them for six years, I’ve seen how badly they have degraded,” said senior Eric Gast, a member of the varsity boys team. “Last year was probably the worst out of them all––I remember slipping constantly on the courts when I was playing, so even though there may be a few cracks now, the courts are still better than they’ve ever been during my time here.”

Despite their tradition of excellence, boys’ and girls’ tennis teams have long been pushing for renovations to the old courts, and so many of them view the recent resurfacing as a victory in itself.

“We’ve been CCS contenders every year, and it was a little embarrassing that our courts weren’t very good,” said senior Andrew Hsieh. “I think its great that we finally have courts that we can really be proud of.”

However, several players are worried that the courts have already begun to display signs of wear .

“I was happy that they resurfaced the courts, but I do think that the school wasted a lot of money unnecessarily. I feel like they may have done a poor job on it,” said sophomore Lisa Asai.

Nonetheless, many tennis players are still enjoying the new courts.

“I prefer the new courts over the old ones because they tend to slow the balls down a bit, and that helps my game.” said sophomore player Crystal Yen. “I do think the cracks are bad, but they’re really small right now, so for the moment it doesn’t really matter. “

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