Outdoor tennis courts very well received

Last spring and summer, Oberlin spent an estimated $108,000 in construction of four new outdoor tennis courts and $3,000 in new landscaping. The money came from the 1996-97 Academic Facilities Planned Maintenance Budget.

"The fences surrounding the tennis courts were so rotten that you could break the metal with your hands," Athletic Director Don Hunsinger said. "Someone could have severed an arm or a leg by running into the fences."

Six of Oberlin's 12 courts were out of commission last season. In addition to the rotting fences, cracks in the ground made it hard to play.

Reconstruction started in the summer of '96, when the rotting fences were taken down. The courts sat through all of last winter and last spring unplayable, until the new fences were put up last June.

The old courts prevented the College from holding the conference tennis championships.

The four courts were built sometime in the 1950s according to Hunsinger. "The normal renovations were 20 years behind schedule," Hunsinger said. "It's about time we got them done."

Originally, the plan was to renovate the four outdoor tennis courts, but after it was found that the foundations were cracking, the college bit the bullet according to Dennis Grieve, the Manager of Grounds, and contracted for the total reconstruction of the courts including a new drainage system put in to prevent further damages.

Site Technology, one of the premier tennis court contractors, rebuilt the courts and put up the new fencing. Site Technology was contracted for building tennis courts at the Jack Nicklaus' Resort.

The courts are now so nice that junior Sam Steckley, a varsity tennis player, was prompted to say, "We don't deserve them."