Community Voices And Blog - chapelhilltennis.org

14Mar 2023 by jerrye316

Students Get It, Why Doesn’t CH P&R Get It?

Court Maintenance, Poor Maintenance, Public Tennis Courts

Check out the The Daily Tar Heel article on Hargraves resurfacing and neglect by CH Parks and Rec to maintain courts. What a great story emphasizing the important of tennis, especially in underserved communities. And very few playable maintained tennis courts in a highly taxed and educated community. Students get it, so why don't town officials get it? The story can be found at https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2023/03/city-hargraves-tennis-park-repavement-chapel-hill-north-carolina

20Nov 2022 by jerrye316

Ephesus Tennis Courts Grand Re-opening

Court Maintenance, Preservation, Public Tennis Courts

The four Ephesus tennis courts have been resurfaced, new nets installed, and lined only for tennis. The grand re-opening week starts Saturday, Nov 19, 2022. This is the first time since 2012 (10+ years) that any CH public tennis courts have been resurfaced, and the tennis community should celebrate. One tennis player described it simply as "glorious". Special thanks to Parks and Recreation director and staff for working with the tennis community, retaining the courts for tennis with only tennis lines, and making the resurfacing happen. Perhaps the best way to express our thanks can be shown in the following two pictures: For tennis players who left playing at Ephesus because of deteriorating conditions, now is your time to return to demonstrate your support, enjoy the new courts, and show…

10Oct 2022 by jerrye316

A Decade of Neglect of Public Tennis Courts Shown in Pictures

Advocates, Court Maintenance, Preservation, Public Tennis Courts, Youth Tennis

The pictures are similar but they are taken ten years apart at two Chapel Hill public tennis facilities. Here is a picture from Ephesus tennis courts in 2012. Ephesus 2012 And here is a picture of current Cedar Falls tennis courts in 2022. Cedar Falls 2022 Both pictures say that nets have been taken down because the courts are unsafe to play on. The first picture was posted in Facebook with the title "Chapel Hill - Southern Part of Heaven unless you are a tennis player". The second picture describes two courts at Cedar Falls which are unsafe to play on today. East HS JV teams use these courts, and just imagine parents watching their children play on the remaining four courts which are also in terrible condition and barely…

23Sep 2022 by jerrye316

Thank You CH PG&R Commissioners

Advocates, Court Maintenance, Preservation, Public Tennis Courts

On Tuesday, Sept 20, 2022, there was a meeting of the Parks, Greenways, and Recreation Commission Board. During this meeting, the proposal for Pickleball using the two of the remaining four Ephesus tennis courts was discussed and voted upon. The Parks and Rec staff provided results from an earlier survey which can be seen at <SurveyResults>. Of particular interest was that 90% of the tennis respondents were from CH/Orange County as opposed to 52% of PickleBall. The tennis community has always talked about how tennis is serving the local community families and citizens, which was verified in this statistic. Representatives and players for both PickleBall and Tennis were given time to speak about their sport and facility needs. We should thank and compliment all the speakers for doing a good…

20Sep 2022 by jerrye316

Chapel Hill’s PickleGate

Court Maintenance, Public Tennis Courts

Pickleball groups continue to ask tennis players to sacrifice Chapel Hill public tennis courts. In 2017, the Parks &Rec department and commission board approved the conversion of two of the six tennis courts at Ephesus to dedicated Pickleball courts. Six PickleBall courts were created. Since this time, the PickleBall courts have been resurfaced three times and nets have been replaced three times. The remaining Ephesus tennis courts have never been resurfaced during this time. At one point, a net was taken down because the tennis court was deemed "unsafe". Pickleball players have now relentlessly proposed to take over an additional two of the tennis courts 50% of time for dedicated PickleBall play. The tennis community has provided data to show that the courts are used by youth, families, students, and…

06Aug 2022 by jerrye316

Chapel Hill Has A Parks Problem

Advocate, Court Maintenance, Public Tennis Courts, Youth Tennis

From a News and Observer opinion post by town council member Adam Searing, the following was written: "Chapel Hill has a parks problem. Community parks commission chair Tyler Steelman noted recently that, people are talking about having to leave town to engage in parks and recreation, and go to surrounding areas to just participate in the types of programs they would like to see." Regarding keeping up with parks, Adam ends with "We don’t have to be a leader, but it would be nice not to be last in the pack" Public tennis courts which serve the local Chapel Hill community are in shambles And now Parks & Rec is considering converting tennis courts to other sports. Let's support the town citizens by preserving, maintaining and upgrading our public parks.…

11Jul 2022 by jerrye316

Too Few CH Public Tennis Courts

Advocates, Court Maintenance, Public Tennis Courts

There have recently been proposals about sharing CH public tennis courts with other sports. In particular, at the Ephesus courts, there are four tennis courts and six pickleball (PB) courts. The PB community has submitted a proposal to takeover an additional two of the remaining tennis courts 50% of time. The proposal also includes drawing permanent PB lines on the two shared courts. The tennis community has defended preserving the four tennis courts and given full and detailed reasons in a response document. However, the friends of CH public tennis would like to highlight one point that is especially pertinent in the coming months. "There are too few CH public tennis courts which are in good playable condition." Later this year (or early next), Cedar Falls and Hargraves tennis courts…

11Jul 2022 by jerrye316

Thwack. Pop. Whack

Noise, Public Tennis Courts

Tennis is a sport where the crowd is asked to be quiet during organized match play. It is also a courtesy for tennis players even in pickup games to not speak out when other players are hitting the ball. Noise is a major reason why tennis and Pickleball should not be collocated. The noise level of Pickleball is even becoming an issue nationwide within neighborhoods. There is a good article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Thwack. Pop. Whack. Pickleball Noises Turn Neighbors Into Activists". A subscription to WSJ is required to read the entire article, but you can get the gist from this link <Thwack. Pop. Whack>.

27Mar 2022 by jerrye316

Win Win – Not All Decisions Need Be Zero Sum

Advocate, Public Tennis Courts

It seems like many decisions by P&R and the commission involving tennis are frequently based upon someone winning and someone losing. Zero sum implies if someone gains, then someone else has to lose. Advocates from other sports are being encourage to secretly monitor and report usage numbers to P&R. For what purpose? We hope this data is just being gathered for planning on future facilities. But the concern is that this data will be used for decision making, to reduce current facilities and opportunities for those with fewer users. In this case, if one group has more users, they relentlessly seek solutions to "inherit" facilities from others. This even includes facilities that have been historically preserved for local and family and walk up residents. Facilities which serve the "community". Who…

22Feb 2022 by jerrye316

Grateful But Time to Budget For More Tennis Courts

Advocate, Court Maintenance, Public Tennis Courts

Presentation at Parks, Greenways, and Recreation Commission Meeting 2-15-2022Speaker/Presenter: D.C. Willis (CH Town Resident) I would like to thank Phil Fleischmann and the Parks and Rec Department, as well as the Parks, Greenways, and Rec Commission for taking seriously the concerns of the public tennis-playing community about the terrible condition and number of our public tennis courts. Over the past many months, Parks and Rec has given their time for regular meetings with us, which we appreciate. At Ephesus Park, we’re grateful for benches, court numbers, a squeegee if nobody take it, patching of some of the many cracks, trimming of tree branches, and repair of lighting. We look forward to a backboard we’ve been missing since 2013, the promised temporary resurfacing of the courts we have left there, and…