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Distinguished Facilities: Five Alive!

The outdoor facility winners are excellent examples of hard-court construction.

By Peter Francesconi

The five outdoor hard-court winners of the 2012 Racquet Sports Industry/American Sports Builders Association Distinguished Facility-of-the-Year Awards all involved fairly large outdoor projects, from seven to 13 courts, both new and renovated facilities. Three are at colleges and two are municipal projects, which means that residents, students and youngsters all will benefit from the new facilities.

The original seven tennis courts at Huntingdon College were badly cracked and beyond repair. Thanks to a large donation, the seven courts were completely replaced and an eighth was added. Only a concrete seating area remained to be part of the new facility. The contractor removed the existing subgrade, which was built over unstable, expansive clay, and reinstalled it properly, and a perimeter sub-surface drain system was installed around all of the court batteries to prevent water from saturating the subgrade.

In Omaha, the Koch Tennis Center expansion project consisted of three 78-foot courts and four smaller Youth Tennis courts, all post-tensioned concrete. The site required extensive grading work and the addition of 16,000 cubic yards of fill, because for years, the city had allowed local excavating contractors to remove fill from the area free. For soil stabilization, the contractor installed 1,800 linear feet of erosion control fence and placed 6,800 square yards of erosion control blankets.

The new collegiate tennis complex at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia features 10 courts, four with lights. In addition to the courts, the project also involved clearing and grading the site, landscaping and plantings, retention ponds, parking and more. One potential obstacle was turned into a positive when the contractor worked a deal with a stone company to supply #10 stone-dust screenings for all the fill because no compactible dirt fill was available.

The Sevierville City Park project in Tennessee consisted of renovating the eight tennis courts using a 4-inch-thick stone slip-sheet method that included laser grading. The site was firm and supported construction equipment well, so no major obstacles were encountered, and city residents now have new, blue courts to enjoy.

The new Williams Bollettieri Tennis Center at The Collegiate School in Goochland, Va., which features 13 courts, has a Grandstand Court with permanent seating, and the courts surround a showcase building that houses locker rooms and restrooms. The court contractor, though, needed to coordinate schedules and construction with two other contractors who were installing the Grandstand seating and building the locker room building between the batteries of courts. The contractor also discovered that the concrete retaining walls on the Grandstand had been installed improperly. To correct the problem, the walls were saw-cut below the frost line, relocated, and re-poured.

Sevierville City Park

Sevierville, Tenn.

(Nominated by Baseline Sports Construction LLC)

General Contractor: Baseline Sports Construction LLC

No. of Courts: 8

Surface: Nova Sports USA

Nets, Center Straps: Douglas Industries

Posts: Edwards/Athletic Connection

George S. Gibbs Tennis Center at Huntingdon College

Montgomery, Ala.

(Nominated by Lower Bros Co. Inc.)

Specialty Contractor: Lower Bros. Co. Inc.

No. of Courts: 8

Surface: Plexipave

Lighting: LSI Industries Inc.

Windscreen, Nets, Posts: J.A. Cissel Mfg. Co.

Koch Tennis Center

Omaha, Neb.

(Nominated by L.E.R. Inc., dba Renner Sports Surfaces)

Architect/Engineer: Kennith W. Schmidt Jr.

General Contractor:L.E.R. Inc., dba Renner Sports Surfaces

No. of Courts: 7

Surface: Renner Sports Surfaces

Nets, Posts, Straps: Douglas Industries

Williams Bollettieri Tennis Center at the Robins Campus of The Collegiate School

Goochland, Va.

(Nominated by Tennis Courts Inc.)

General Contractor: Tennis Courts Inc.

No. of Courts: 13

Surface: Latex-Ite/Tennis Courts Inc.

Nets: Har-Tru

Posts: Edwards

Randolph-Macon College Tennis Court Complex

Ashland, Va.

(Nominated by Tennis Courts Inc.)

General Contractor: Tennis Courts Inc.

No. of Courts: 10

Surface: Latex-Ite/Tennis Courts Inc.

Nets: Har-Tru

Posts: Edwards

For details on the 2013 Outstanding Facility-of-the-Year Awards, contact the ASBA at 866-501-ASBA or info@sportsbuilders.org, or visitsportsbuilders.org.

See all articles by Peter Francesconi

About the Author

Peter Francesconi is editorial director of Tennis Industry magazine.

From the May 2013 issue
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