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At our latest community centre meeting, most of the board members put aside their usual cheapness and supported a rather expensive proposal: build a wall around the tennis courts. It has yet to be formally voted on and approved.
I remember back in the day when the courts were almost brand new and pristine, brimming with white-clothed players, headbands and wood racquets. There weren't even any rules posted on the fence; everyone knew how to act respectfully to each other and towards the facility. The courts are in a bit of a valley so you could see the lovely green tennis courts and watch people play from your house if it happened to be in the surrounding hills.
As the years went by and the number of tennis players dwindled, behaviour on the courts declined as well. We then had to start posting signs with a lot of 'Please don'ts". Eventually the signs got graffitied, then sliced through. The courts got re-painted from a beautiful forest green to a drab and 'modern' steel blue.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, the big trend was skateboarding on the courts. There were altercations between the old-timey tennis players and kids skating around. The skateboarding fad faded, but the non-tennis use of the courts increased. The courts are now just as often used for dogwalking, biking, mysterious transactions and pickleball as they are for tennis. Our neighbourhood has had an influx of undesirables disobeying the night curfew on the signs, and using the courts to play loud foreign music and have parties. The police have been called, but they are reluctant to get involved. We're not allowed to hire armed security in our town. There's been talk of demolishing the courts.
If the wall is constructed, access to the courts would work on the 'shopping cart' principle. You would put in a deposit of a certain amount, and you'd get a key or swipe card to the door of the courts. You'd have to return your key or card into the machine to get your money back.
Is building a wall around the courts too extreme? What ideas has your community implemented to keep non-tennis use to a minimum and the troublemakers out?
I remember back in the day when the courts were almost brand new and pristine, brimming with white-clothed players, headbands and wood racquets. There weren't even any rules posted on the fence; everyone knew how to act respectfully to each other and towards the facility. The courts are in a bit of a valley so you could see the lovely green tennis courts and watch people play from your house if it happened to be in the surrounding hills.
As the years went by and the number of tennis players dwindled, behaviour on the courts declined as well. We then had to start posting signs with a lot of 'Please don'ts". Eventually the signs got graffitied, then sliced through. The courts got re-painted from a beautiful forest green to a drab and 'modern' steel blue.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, the big trend was skateboarding on the courts. There were altercations between the old-timey tennis players and kids skating around. The skateboarding fad faded, but the non-tennis use of the courts increased. The courts are now just as often used for dogwalking, biking, mysterious transactions and pickleball as they are for tennis. Our neighbourhood has had an influx of undesirables disobeying the night curfew on the signs, and using the courts to play loud foreign music and have parties. The police have been called, but they are reluctant to get involved. We're not allowed to hire armed security in our town. There's been talk of demolishing the courts.
If the wall is constructed, access to the courts would work on the 'shopping cart' principle. You would put in a deposit of a certain amount, and you'd get a key or swipe card to the door of the courts. You'd have to return your key or card into the machine to get your money back.
Is building a wall around the courts too extreme? What ideas has your community implemented to keep non-tennis use to a minimum and the troublemakers out?
