District resurfacing tennis courts on 3 campuses
by Rawly Bransom, Sports Editor

   U.S. Open-quality tennis will be available on three TCC campuses.
   As a result of resurfacing, campus tennis courts will be of the same high-quality material.
   The new surface will consist of a blended court material called plexipave, an acrylic surface, and all TCC courts will now have a unified Florida green surface with a California red border.
   The courts are being done one at a time: first South Campus, then NE Campus and finally NW Campus.
   At press time, South Campus work was completed; NE Campus was being resurfaced, and NW Campus was waiting.
   South, NE, and NW Campus tennis courts have needed refurbishing for many years.
   On several courts, large cracks and crevices have appeared.
   "If you let courts crack, they get water inside. When it gets cold, they freeze and crack even more," Tim Johnson, head of South Campus HPER, said.
   Many students who take physical education classes use these courts as well as other people from the local area.
   "We were at the point where we were going to have to do something, Johnson said. "A tennis court is like your car. If you never changed your oil, you are going to have some major problems down the road. That was the point we were at with our courts."
   Loose surface injuries were beginning to be a problem, but were not a deciding factor for TCC officials.
   Johnson said the main factor was game play since many local high schools and local people in the community in addition to students continually use TCC tennis courts.
   Carl Pringle, TCC director of facility planning, said the total cost of $87,328 for all three campuses was a significant savings.
   "We were able to save quite a lot of money over our original estimates. It was enough of a savings for us to put up all new nets as well at a cost of about $5,000 a campus, he said.
   The amount of use justifies the cost, Pringle said.
   "We have quite a few students enrolled in tennis classes on those three campuses and many levels of students from beginners, moderate, even a few advanced players. These students are interested in playing on a good court. We needed to be able to accommodate them," he said.
   American Tennis Courts, which resurfaces the U.S. Open, received the contract. In fact, American Tennis Courts is one of only three companies that specialize in making tennis courts and was the only company to make a final bid on the TCC courts.