By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – Westfield High School has consistently put out top-level tennis teams, both boys and girls, over the past several years.
The Shamrocks will soon have a facility worthy of those teams.
A ceremonial groundbreaking took place Tuesday afternoon on Westfield’s new tennis facility. The facility will be located at 17695 Shamrock Boulevard, just north of State Road 32 and right next door to Riverview Health Westfield Hospital.
The new facility will have 15 tennis courts, including three championship courts with a viewing area for spectators. The courts will have post-tension concrete construction, considered to be a “stronger and more durable playing surface that won’t crack and heave over time, greatly reducing repair over the court’s life,” according to a fact sheet given out at the groundbreaking. There will also be a separate building for locker rooms, restrooms and concessions.
Members of the Westfield school board and administration were on hand for the groundbreaking, along with current tennis players. Shamrocks girls coach Trudy Coler and boys coach Tony Peters were among those helping to turn over the ground.
“I’m just so excited, really excited,” said Coler, who has been the girls tennis coach for 17 years. “This is so wonderful for our school and for our players and programs. I’m relieved, too, that we’re getting going on it.”
“I think it’s amazing that we’re finally getting this done,” said Peters. “From start to finish, the design process has been really cool and the administration has been always supportive, helpful. The attitudes have been like, ‘Let’s make this.’ We think we’ve designed one of the best facilities in the state and I think that’s what they want to do.”
The facility will feature 15 courts, along with a separate building for locker rooms, restrooms and concessions. (Rendering provided)
Coler and Peters were both involved in the planning of the facility.
“It was interesting, because you don’t think about all of the aspects that go into a facility like this, and you really have to think about how you want the courts set up, and accessibility for coaching and accessibility for fans to be able to see well, and all those things,” said Coler. “We really went through the process of trying to figure out all the things that we wanted to make sure we had so that they were done right and we didn’t get through the process and then be like, ‘Oh, gosh, we should have done that instead.’”
Peters said the process involved not only thinking about “for us in the short term, but what kind of things we would want in the future as well. We took some different courts that we think are nice courts in our area and try to pick some of those to model ours after and I think we’re going to have a really nice finished product.”
One of the players at the groundbreaking was sophomore Caroline Hopkins, who said it was “very exciting, and it’s nice to see everyone come together to celebrate the new courts.”
Work will take place on the facility beginning this winter, and the courts are expected to be complete by the upcoming summer, just in time for the Fall 2024 season.