Distinguished Facility-of-the-Year Awards: Hard Labor
These outdoor facility winners are excellent examples of hard-court construction.
This year’s hard-court winners of the Tennis Industry/American Sports Builders Association’s Distinguished Facility of the Year Awards span the nation, from New Hampshire to California. Five of the facilities are at schools or universities, two are municipal facilities and one is at a park. This year, the Outdoor Tennis Facility hard-court category has both the Silver Award and Bronze Award winners. The new George S. Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City is the Silver Award Winner. The project involved a tight building site that required concrete-retaining walls to be constructed first. The walls allowed the post-tension slabs to be tensioned in a way that eliminated construction joints and produced a seamless surface.
The Bronze Award Winner is the College Boulevard Activity Center Tennis Complex in Olathe, Kan. The center was looking to host the Kansas State High School Tennis Tournament and needed 12 top-quality courts. Officials demolished an existing soccer field and built a dozen post-tensioned concrete tennis courts, which utilize existing bleachers, lighting and a press box from the original soccer field.
The configuration of the eight new courts at the Briarwood Christian School in Birmingham, Ala., came about because part of the property is located on a 100-year flood zone and school funds for the project were limited. Grading had to be minimized; the result is four two-court batteries that are terraced up the side of a hill, while still maintaining ADA accessibility.
At the Dublin School in Dublin, N.H., challenges included determining how much of the clay to remove from the five old clay courts, and how much of the existing base material could be salvaged. The contractor then added gravel to provide the necessary slope and elevation for the four new post-tensioned concrete courts.
For the Forest Hills Eastern High School Tennis Complex in Ada, Mich., the contractor had a two-month window to demolish the eight existing asphalt tennis courts and install eight new post-tensioned concrete courts, so as not to interfere with the spring and fall tennis programs. To avoid the mid-day summer heat, which would affect curing, concrete pours began at 3 a.m.
Meadowwood Park in Aurora, Colo., was completely redesigned and renovated, including demolishing old asphalt tennis courts and adding a 14-foot-wide extension to bring the courts to regulation widths. In addition to the new post-tensioned concrete subbase, the project included installation of seating, court lighting, fencing, concrete ramps and bleachers.
For the tennis courts at Sage Hill School in Newport Coast, Calif., the contractor had to contend with multiple encounters of unmarked underground utilities; a large bank of high-voltage cables was nearly hit as they were digging footings for the retainer walls. A similar encounter at another location on the site required rerouting the main storm drain line and increasing the depth of a nearby retaining wall.
Last but not least, the project at New York’s SUNY Cortland meant demolishing 18 old courts, which required asbestos abatement, and installing 16 courts in their place, which includes six tournament tennis courts with a cushioned system. To deal with the storm water and aquifer protection, bio-retention swales, an underground detention system, trench drains, catch basins and permeable pavers with an infiltration system were all added.
The deadline for the 2017 Outstanding Facility-of-the-Year Awards is June 1; awards will be presented at the 2017 ASBA Technical Meeting, held in New Orleans, La., Dec. 1-5. For details, contact the ASBA at 866-501-ASBA.
Briarwood Christian School
Birmingham, Alabama
Nominated By: Holcombe Norton Partners Inc.
No. of Courts: 8
Architect/Engineer: Holcombe Norton Partners Inc.
Specialty Contractor: Lower Bros.
Surface: California Sports Surfaces Plexipave
Nets, Posts, Windscreens: Putterman Athletics
ASBA Certified Builder: Linn Lower
Forest Hills Eastern High School Tennis Complex
Ada, Michigan
Nominated By: GMB Architecture + Engineering
No. of Courts: 8
Architect/Engineer: GMB Architecture + Engineering
Specialty Contractor: Racquet Sports
Surface: California Sports Surfaces
Posts, Sleeves, Anchors: Edwards/Roldri
Windscreens: Putterman Athletics
Drainage: ACO Sport
College Boulevard Activity Center
Olathe, Kansas
Nominated By: McConnell & Associates Corp.
No. of Courts: 12
Architect/Engineer: Land 3 Studio
Specialty Contractor: McConnell & Associates Corp.
Surface: California Sports Surfaces Plexipave
Nets, Posts: Douglas Industries
Cables & Hardware: Tech-Con Systems
ASBA Certified Builder: Michael Mehaffey, JR
Dublin School Tennis Facility
Dublin, New Hampshire
Nominated By: Cape and Island Tennis & Track
No. of Courts: 4
General Contractor: Cape and Island Tennis & Track
Surface: California Sports Surfaces Plexipave
Nets: Har-Tru Sports
Posts: Douglas Industries
ASBA Certified Builder: David Moore
Sage Hill School Aquatic Center & Tennis Courts
Newport Coast, California
Nominated By: Zaino Tennis Courts Inc.
No. of Courts: 6
Specialty Contractor: Zaino Tennis Courts Inc.
Surface: California Sports Surfaces Plexipave
ASBA Certified Builders: Richard Zaino, Brian Hoggard
George S. Eccles Tennis Center
Salt Lake City, Utah
Nominated By: Tennis and Track Co.
No. of Courts: 6
Specialty Contractor: Tennis and Track Co.
Surface: California Sports Surfaces Plexipave
Nets, Posts: Douglas Industries
ASBA Certified Builder: Brian Renner
SUNY Cortland Tennis Courts
Cortland, New York
Nominated By: E-Z Paving/Sealcoat LLC.
No. of Courts: 16
Architect/Engineer: The LA Group, Landscape Architecture & Engineering PC
Specialty Contractor: E-Z Paving/Sealcoat LLC.
Surface: Nova Sports USA
Meadowwood Park Tennis Facility
Aurora, Colo.
Nominated By: Renner Sports Surfaces
No. of Courts: 4
Architect/Engineer: KWS Engineers
General Contractor: Renner Sports Surfaces
Surface: Renner Sports Surfaces Acrylic Color Coatings
Nets, Posts, Windscreens: Douglas Industries
Lighting: LSI Industries
Practice Wall: Bakko Backboards
ASBA Certified Builders: Colin Donovan, Scott Starman
TI magazine search
TI magazine articles
- Our Serve: Rally Point for Tennis
- Our Serve: It’s Our Responsibility
- Industry News
- Facility Management: Party Lines
- Retailing Tip: Enjoy the Game!
- Tennis Industry Hall of Fame: Honor Society
- Growing Community Tennis: Hispanic Tennis Stars
- Home of American tennis: The ‘Go-To’ Place for U.S. Tennis
- Become a Racquet Guru
- Court Construction: Winter Break