Windscreen Installation
For our initial 2008 summer program we installed 200' of windscreens, multiple banners and net straps at Tehachapi High School. Then we swept and weeded all six courts . The tennis courts looked incredible. I thought the offer of donated windscreens was a fair exchange to use the courts free for the summer clinics. TUSD did not accept the offer. We took the windscreens down.
Surface Repair
I spent several weekends resurfacing the tennis courts at Desert High School, Edwards, CA. I learned everything: patching, resurfacing, painting lines. This was all done with volunteers. If Tehachapi ever needs this to happen, I can organize volunteers, innovate funding and have it done. This is an open offer to TVRPD and TUSD.
We hammered out bad sections of concrete, patched it with acrylic concrete. We filled cracks with patching material and crack sealers. We scraped, leveled, swept and washed. The next two weekends we laid down the court surface using teams of mixers, haulers and spreaders. Others kept busy sweeping and cleaning.
That was the physical part, then came the stress part: laying out the lines. The lines were a nightmare of measuring and re-measuring, taping and re-measuring. Still, with all that attention to detail, we painted one service line wrong and had to re-surface and re-paint a bit of court 3. That was only a 15 minute setback but a serious wound to our perfectionist psyches. It shows here because the paint was fresh, but is now completely invisible after time under the sun and weather.
Maintenance
Tennis courts need maintenance. They aren't just driveways with stripes. The surface needs renewal, patching and constant cleaning. Windscreens do not last forever and should be taken down during the off season. None of this happens unless a tennis professional takes charge.