By Staff
Letters to the Editor
City’s courts an embarassment
As I’m sure everyone has noticed this year the football team has been given a brand new, lush, green field to rip up. Nothing is wrong with this especially since football is probably one of the most attended school sports. Nothing is wrong with this until you make the short walk over to the HJHS tennis courts.
Sure courts one and two look fine at first glance, but take a closer look and you will see numerous cracks. These cracks are soon overlooked being that they are a common sight on most well played public tennis courts, but no close examination is needed to see the problems that lie just a few steps down.
Courts five and six look almost like one and two, OK, but not great, but a slight turn of the head reveals a sight known only to Hartsell and Wimbledon, England. There is nothing wrong with grass tennis courts as they are the court of choice of such players as the Russian superstar, Maria Sharapova, and four time reigning Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer. As I said, nothing is wrong with grass tennis courts except when they’re supposed to be asphalt. Yes, at a passing glance it is easy to mistake courts three and four at the junior high tennis courts as a picture straight out of Wimbledon.
Looking at these courts you will see not only cracks but also 10 inch high patches of grass sticking up out of the already existent gashes. The only difference from these and grass courts are that courts three and four need nobody to come out with a watering can because they have their own irrigation system. Aside from the grass and cracks you may also notice that puddles of water are left standing on courts when it has not rained in days. Water seeping up from the ground is indeed assisting the grass’s ongoing invasion. For all you risk takers out there just look in the piles of leaves in the corner of the fence, you might see a tennis ball or a snake.
These were the findings of Hartselle resident and tennis player, Kenny Scarborough. Attempting to tame the wild jungle of brush in the corner he was greeted by the unpleasant sight of another pair of eyes staring back at his own. Local tennis players and families are very upset at the lack of interest and/or action of the city council and the school board concerning the tennis problem. As it was said in a recent article about the same subject that nothing would be done about the tennis facilities until a new high school is indeed built. This does not even start to appease the local tennis community. So what’s more important to you the greenest football field or equal opportunities and safe facilities for the Hartselle tennis players? You decide!
Jenifer Abercrombie
8th grade tennis player at HJHS