Tennis players being aced out of court availability
By Kathryn Reed
Tennis doesn’t get talked about much as a reason for tourists to visit the South Shore, while Tahoe City and Truckee are a draw for people looking for good courts.
Maybe it has something to do with the quality of and accessibility to courts in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin that makes the difference.
But it’s also locals on the South Shore, particularly on the California side, who are put off by what is going on with the myriad courts.
Lack of accessibility to South Tahoe High School's tennis courts is an issue for the public paying for them. Photo/Kathryn Reed
Lake Tahoe Community College has offered tennis classes for years, and will again this fall. It used to be taught at Tahoe Paradise Park, then South Tahoe Middle School and now at South Tahoe High School.
The college’s master plan includes courts, but last week they were stripped from the five-year facilities schedule because college President Kindred Murillo said there’s no way they’ll be built in that time span.
LTCC’s classes keep changing locations because the courts keep deteriorating to the point they are dangerous to play on.
The three courts at Tahoe Paradise Park near Meyers were locked because of the horrible condition they were in. Two have been resurfaced, but are sitting without paint and lines – therefore, unusable. The groundskeeper says expect them to be playable in September. Only two are being fixed; the other is left as an eyesore.
The four courts at South Tahoe Middle School are open to anyone, but a “use at your own risk” sign should be placed there because of the numerous cracks.
South Tahoe High School’s six courts were resurfaced as part of the Measure G bond that was passed by voters in 2008. The problem is accessibility.
The district wants to keep its $400,000 investment pristine, but that means a lock is on the courts when no one is there monitoring them. Skateboarder and cyclists are the users not wanted on the courts.
Justin Clark has the key. But it requires calling him ahead of time to open the courts or go during scheduled public time. For instance, Lake Tahoe News went to the courts on Wednesday at 1:30pm and found them locked, no one playing. The STHS court schedule does not favor the public when the high school tennis teams are not using them.
And the schedule is not posted on the courts – you’d have to read this story or have another connection to know the hours.
Clark is also LTCC’s tennis instructor. Plus, he runs a for-profit tennis academy at the courts.
“We are not getting money from him. He has to put money back into the facilities, like $3,000 worth of backboards that he paid for,” Lake Tahoe Unified School District Superintendent Jim Tarwater said of Clark.
Those backboards should be up by the end of the month, according to Clark.
People have been dismayed they have to pay to use the courts when in the past they have been free. People have been complaining to Lake Tahoe News that they don’t want to have to reserve a court, nor do they want to pay Clark.
To appease the general public, some of who are the taxpayers paying for the courts, the district is looking at putting in a card key for next summer. Rates have not been established, nor how it would work for the person just wanting to play once or twice.
This source of revenue for the district could then be used for future upkeep to the courts, and not go into an individual’s pocket – something people have concerns with.
Clark would like to turn the courts at STHS into what Douglas County has at Zephyr Cove Park. It costs to play at those six public courts, plus there is a ladder and other tennis events.
The Tahoe Tennis Classic was at Zephyr Cove earlier this month.
Other tournaments in the basin include the 30th annual Incline Open that was last weekend and the Northstar Tennis Open the weekend of Sept. 10-12.
Incline Village Tennis Center has 11 courts.
Northstar-at-Tahoe has for years been singled out in Tennis magazine as a place to travel to play tennis. It has 10 courts and tons of camps for all ages.
Granlibakken resort in Tahoe City has been home to the Nike tennis program for years.
Tahoe City Public Utility District Parks and Recreation runs public courts –eight of them.
The only covered court in the basin is at Ridge Tahoe on Upper Kingsbury Grade. To use it, you must be a guest or owner of a time-share.
Hmmm. Since the funds for those courts at the high school came from local PROPERTY OWNERS, how do they deny us the use of those courts? If they’d been paid for with school district funds it would be another story, though even at that level, it comes from property taxes as well. Somebody needs to have a talk with Dr. Tarwater regarding the difference between public and private.
Our tax money, we should have access to the courts.
Private individuals should not be profiting from their exclusive or privileged use of facilities built and maintained with public funds, like the high school tennis courts.
And how can Tahoe Paradise Park’s courts be in horrible condition and consequently locked up with a supposed revenue stream from Measure S?
Agreed, we shouldn’t have to pay twice.
Being a tennis lover but still Miss Frugal, I can tell you that it feels very wrong to pay $5 per person for a 90 minute doubles match for courts my taxes have already paid for. Everyone agrees. Most of the people I play with have now worked out arrangements at Zephyr Cove or other private courts where they would rather pay to play as the system to get onto those courts is straight forward. It’s sad to see our beautiful new courts locked up and people living in Gardner Mountain driving all the way to Zephyr Cove to play. We need a tennis program for South Lake Tahoe that actually benefits our populous, not just one private individual and his teams.
They do need to be locked when not in use as activities other than tennis DO wreck them. Decades ago Parks & Rec used to staff the courts at the middle school with a teenager and believe the charge was a $.50 or $1.00 to reserve a time and play. Private parties making money off of public facilities seems to be the way the agencies in charge are heading, making this area a playground for the well-off instead of the dwindling local.
Those HS tennis courts were built by Measure G money which is our money so we should beable to play on our courts whenever. Dr. Tarwater and the administration up at the HS do not agree. Why don’t we fix up the tennis courts at the Middle School. Measure R should be for maintenance of the ball fields, bike trails, AND the middle school tennis courts. I would vote for that. Otherwise vote no on Measure R.
So is there a time when the pristine courts at the STHS can be used by the public?
I know the courts at Tahoe Paradise were supposed to be finished by end of July. I read that in the Trib when they were looking for bids. Nothing has happened there since they put down the new surface (asphalt?)last month. Very frustrating, especially, like many said, we are paying for them!