In January, the school board will vote on whether or not the tennis courts will go under construction this year. These changes will impact the upcoming girl’s season and possibly the next boy’s season. These changes will present challenges that the tennis program and tennis coach Dan Brunette have never had to deal with. 

“They’re going to redo the surface of the existing courts and build new ones over where the Northview football field is,” Brunette said. 

Right now there are four decks of tennis courts, each having seven courts. The deck closest to the tennis house, or deck one, is the only deck that will be in the same spot. Deck two, just north of deck one, will be moved further north. 

This shift north is to make room for the coaching lanes, or paths between each deck. Between decks one and two this lane will be 30-feet wide. It will have three bleachers, two small ones and a grand one.

Since the Northview football field sits at a lower elevation than the tennis courts, the construction will involve leveling out the land. 

“For decks three and four, they’ll have to grade all that off,” Brunette said. 

This change is possible because Northview is moving to the new location at 91st Street and College Avenue. The decks located here will have six courts, whereas the west decks will have seven. The program will be losing two deck courts as well as the two courts on the east side of the tennis house.

Another change is to the existing roads near the tennis courts. New roads will be built around the tennis courts. More bus parking will be created where the two northern decks were. The road that runs along the west side of the courts will be made only for bus traffic. A new road will go around the courts along the south side of the courts. There will be a turn-around loop just south of the natatorium as well.

There will have to be compromise for the girl’s season to be held. Practices will be held off-site, the most likely location as of now is Carmel Middle School. There will be no matches at NC. The team will be forced to make cuts for the first time since Brunette has been here.

“We will keep as many as we can to also be productive during practice,” said Brunette.

Brunette has always been a fan of having a large team.

“I’ve always been for a bigger team, but there’s no good time to do this, it has been 30 years since the courts have been redone,” Brunette said.

Girls tennis team captain Lucy Wynne feels that she is being cheated out of her senior season. Wynne’s biggest complaint is that there is limited information about practice location and how many will be on the team.

“I really want to know how many will be on the team because that really determines how fun the season will be,” Wynne said.

Wynne has many friends on the team that plays for fun, not because they are good at tennis. This is what really makes tennis at NC what it is.w