Ace new courts to give club a welcome boost
Three new synthetic courts have buoyed spirits for a Far North Queensland tennis club as they recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
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They say blue and green should never be seen, but the team at Freshwater Tennis Club wholeheartedly disagree.
Three new synthetic courts have buoyed the club’s spirits as they recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Club president Brian Davis said the fresh blue playing surfaces were the result of more than a decade of hard work.
“We’re doing three out of the four courts and we’ve had to pay for them all ourselves because there’s been no grant money available during the COVID problem,” he said.
“The club raised money with sausage sizzles and raffles over a period of about 15 years and managed to raise $90,000 for three new courts.
“It’s been 12 years since they were last done and it was getting to a stage where we needed to do something with it.
“The fourth one we can’t pay for yet but we’re hoping, once COVID is over, there’ll be some grants available to maybe help us out with that.”
Club coach Dana Vincent said the new courts would allow members to enjoy a high standard of play all year round.
“The benefit of being on this surface is if we get some rain — especially in Cairns, because it rains a fair bit — we can still continue to play because it’s not a slippery surface,” she said.
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The club hopes to attract new members and develop more juniors on the back of the upgrades.
“We have about 230 members at the moment and we’re thinking that 300 will be our optimal number,” Davis said.
“Everybody that drives past has been noticing these bright, new, modern courts and we’re getting a lot of phone calls interested in playing from people who might have never played before or played a long time ago and now they feel like coming back.”
Work to refurbish the Kamerunga Rd courts began last month and is scheduled to be completed in time for a return to fixtures next week.
“The players are breaking their neck to get out there,” Davis said
Originally published as Ace new courts to give club a welcome boost