Lighting up the courts

Outside of the gumball, there aren’t many things left in life that you can buy for a quarter.

So it’s a bit surprising to find that a single 25-cent piece can buy a half-hour of playing time under the lights on the tennis courts of University and Central Valley high schools. At that rate, you could play an entire Wimbledon final for a buck – maybe a buck-and-a-half for a five-set thriller.

It’s probably the best value for a quarter since the invention of Pong.

Drive by U-Hi on a summer evening and you will find every court in use throughout the evening and well into the night. In fact, most nights, there’s a wait to get on a court.

“My wife and I will drive by the courts on our way home from somewhere at about 11 o’clock, and we’ll look to see if there’s an empty court,” said Rod Steele, the assistant boys tennis coach for the Titans and a regular on the courts most evenings. “My daughter (Jessica) is still playing USTA this summer, and my son (Josh) graduated this year and is actually coaching his sister. He likes to workout there during the evenings.”

For whatever reason, evening usage on the CV courts isn’t as heavy.

“I tell people that, if they can’t get on at U-Hi, to head over to CV,” Steele said.

It’s a great place to spend a summer’s evening – and a popular one.

“It seems to be almost a hangout,” Steele said. “Most of the people there are high schoolers. One or two of them on a given night will be varsity players, and the rest of them will be recreational players. It’s cool.

“The other night, my wife and I were there playing until about 10:45 in the evening, and when we left, all the courts but one were still in use. It looks like the best deal in town.”

As you would expect on a tennis court, where the game still commands a level of decorum and etiquette, the atmosphere is polite as well as fun.

“There appears to be a lot of camaraderie,” Steele said. “Most of the people seem to know each other so there’s some chatting going on between courts. It’s really a lot of fun.”

The light system was part of the upgrade for each of the high schools – a good thing from a budgeting standpoint.

“I don’t think the district could find the money to do something like that now,” Steele said. “I know we’ve been trying to get wind screens for the U-Hi courts because the wind can get pretty strong through there, but we haven’t been able to find any money for it anywhere. We’re probably going to have to do our own fundraisers to finance it.

“They have them on the courts at CV, but as I understand it, those are left over from the courts they had before the new school was built.”

Steele said he isn’t all that eager for more people to learn about the joys of playing a game of tennis in the evening at U-Hi. It’s a little like a fisherman not wanting to divulge a favorite spot for hooking the big fish.

But he wouldn’t mind it if more people found out about the courts at Central Valley.

“That’s what I would hope,” he laughed. “Take a little bit of the pressure off at the U-Hi courts.”