Over the last couple of months many residents of the community have voiced a clear message, which I share, that the tennis courts and facilities at Memorial Field have fallen into serious disrepair because of the curtailment of the maintenance program a few years ago and are now a disgrace. Despite this, there is one voice that has been noticeably absent from the discussion, in that there has not been any formal response from the school district. However, there have been two interesting letters in this newspaper from Mr. English of the MAAC. While he states that he does not have oversight for the tennis facilities it appears that Mr. English may be acting as somewhat of a surrogate for the school district in his responses, especially in echoing the threat of paving the courts over to a hard surface that tennis players in our town have heard for over 10 years. With that in mind, I would like to make a couple of points.

For someone who is so concerned about the tennis courts I wonder where Mr. English has been over the last five plus years while the overall facilities in Memorial Field have fallen into deep disrepair and why he has not tried to communicate with any of the various tennis players in the community who have reached out to the school over the years to try to improve the facilities?

When Mr. English states his opinion that "it is not realistic to assume that the school district will allocate the funds necessary to maintain clay tennis courts," I am struck by the contradictory fact that prior to about the last five years, the school district did in fact do exactly that for many years! Prior to the last few years, in the prior 20 plus years that I have been a resident the district had in place an adequate maintenance program as well as very dedicated on-site supervisors like Ben and Jan Olausson that were constant fixtures at Memorial Field working hard to keep the courts and surrounding area/facilities in the best possible shape. Thus, what has changed to make that now not feasible? Clearly it is not the financial backing of residents of the district who have supported fairly healthy increases to the school budget continuously over this period.

The members of the tennis community are in total agreement with Mr. English and share his goal "to have the most courts in the most playable condition." However, the lack of a maintenance program and supervisor only adds to post rain delays in playing on the courts. The problem behind why the courts do not dry out after a meaningful rain was made clear to the school district about a dozen years ago when a soil sample survey commissioned by the school revealed that the water absorbing undersurface of the courts had completely disintegrated as they are over 60 years old and are well beyond their useful life. Mr. English should know that his radical suggestion of paving the courts over is not the most appropriate solution to the problem and that there are other more appealing options. Mr. English should know that as an alternative to paving over the courts, a green "Har-tru" clay surface, which is sometimes referred to as "fast drying courts," is an option that would allow play only a few hours after a heavy rain and requires less maintenance that the old red clay courts.

Regarding Mr. English's question that he doesn't understand why older people can't play on hard surface courts, he should know that it is not a question of entitlement but that older bodies can't stand this physical punishment associated with the constant pounding on the body and the associated stress on a player's knees, back and lower extremities. Anyone who has even a leg, knee, hip or back injury has likely been told by their doctor that it is not recommended that they play tennis on a hard surface for a good reason. That is why if you pass a tennis facility with hard courts, you will find few, if any, middle/senior age players using the courts.

As Mr. English raised the subject of putting a new surface on the tennis courts, he should know that back in the early 1990s some members of the tennis community met with the then-school district superintendent to discuss this issue. At that time there appeared to be agreement that: a hard surface was not acceptable to the community residents, simply adding a top layer of clay would be at best a temporary fix and resurfacing the courts to a "Har-tru" surface made the most sense. While the then supervisor was forthright in pointing out that cost was a major issue, he promised to move forward on redoing the courts sometime in the future. That was over a dozen years ago. Thus, many of us would like to know the status of that promise and if it was lost during the changes in administration at the school district. I recognize that there will be a meaningful capital outlay associated with this. However, I am struck by the contradiction that whenever the discussion turns to maintaining (or resurfacing) the clay tennis courts, we are told that funding is the major impediment. However, where will the funding come from if a decision was made to tear up the clay courts and completely repave them over to a hard surface as has been repeatedly suggested?

I took note that Mr. English's responses said nothing regarding some of the simple low cost improvements to the facilities suggested in prior letters, like opening up the toilets and fixing the drinking fountain. Many kids in our community use Memorial Field for such activities as soccer and lacrosse practice and many families as a place for other leisure activities. I'm sure that most of these kids would surely appreciate a place to get a drink of water on a hot day during practice or to use an open toilet when nature calls. Likewise the residents in the immediate area would surely appreciate not witnessing what alternatives the kids have to resort to in front of their homes because an open toilet is not available. Is there some reason why such simple and obvious changes that would benefit all residents and have repeatedly been suggested cannot be implemented?

Finally I would point out that the sarcastic tone of Mr. English's response was not necessary as it only undermines his arguments and credibility as a member of MAAC. May I suggest that Mr. English consider reaching out to the tennis community with an open mind to work together towards the common goals both parties share. He may be surprised to learn some things and find that some individuals actually have some good ideas.

Rosemary Cosentino