Long cracks stretched across the courts before the resurface project — sometimes fence to fence.
Craters like this one made some sections of the courts hazardous.
Entrance BEFORE: workers begin prepping for the resurfacing.
Entrance after: the new surface is less than a week old.
Battle Ground High School just finished resurfacing all six of its tennis courts for the first time in who knows how long.
That’s not a colloquialism. When various employees of Battle Ground High School were asked, including the head coach of the boys tennis team and athletic director, no one knew how long it had been since the courts were last resurfaced.
Cody Taylor, tennis operations manager at Beynon, the company contracted out for the resurfacing, summed it up quickly when asked how the courts compared to others he’d done throughout his career.
“Terrible. Not the worst I’ve ever seen, but pretty close and still terrible,” he said.
All six courts, which sit adjacent to the football stadium, had a broad array of divots, holes and cracks all over them. Some of the cracks stretched all the way from one fence to the other. The rough texture that a tennis court is supposed to have was almost non-existent. Instead, the courts felt and played like tennis lines had been painted on cracked and worn blacktop. One court in particular had a crater so wide and deep, anyone who had the misfortune of stepping on it would likely sprain their ankle.
The resurfacing contract, which also includes filling cracks on the Prairie High School tennis courts, had a total cost of $60,410 for both projects.
It turns out, according to the Battle Ground School District, that the BGHS tennis courts were last resurfaced 15 years ago, in 2001. Prairie High School last had their courts resurfaced in 2011 and according to the district, was paid for by a Qualified School Construction Bond through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The court resurfacing came as a surprise to second year Head Coach Tino Fabros. He said one day Athletic Director Matt Stanfill approached him over the summer with the good news — news that they both knew was long overdue.
“The players are really excited for the new courts,” said Fabros. “It was just really bad conditions last year, and the years before.”
Fabros, who also coaches the La Salle High School girl’s team in Portland during the spring and has been coaching tennis in the Portland and southwest Washington area for years, hopes that this is just one aspect of an upward tennis trend in the Battle Ground area: “I encourage kids to just come out and have fun; play your heart out; get the introduction; maybe you’ll love tennis and end up playing after high school.”
Improvements to the tennis facilities have come at a critical time as the BGHS boys almost didn’t have a tennis team this year, managing to just fill a 10-man roster — none of whom are freshman.
Tennis, which is thriving and has a rich culture in Portland and Vancouver, boasting over 20 tennis facilities — many of which have waiting lists stretching anywhere from five to 10 years — hasn’t been able to catch the same fire for young athletes in the Battle Ground area in recent history.
Stanhill stays optimistic though and is confident that enthusiasm for tennis will soon swing back around with the help of new courts and an overhaul of the boys team via Fabros. He says that the girls program is strong and he is “very confident that both programs will continue to grow.”
Stanhill is very excited about having new head coach Tino Fabros on board. He says that from the very first practice he could tell that Tino was going to take the tennis program in the right direction based on his enthusiasm, passion for the game and past successes.
Along with the resurfacing of the courts, the cement hitting wall on the eastern side of the courts will also be getting what Stanfill calls a “face-lift” in about a month.
