Fiend at Court Unplugged
Yesterday I lamented how my hometown systematically blocks public access to tennis courts that are ordinarily open in other municipalities. After being thwarted by the locks and chains at the middle school courts last weekend, I swung by a couple of courts that I knew would be available. As far as I know, Belair Park has the only courts in Wichita Falls that are routinely open and accessible. In fact, there are no gates at all so they can’t be closed and locked.
The tennis courts at Belair Park are what I would call “slab courts.” The surface is bare concrete. The nets are essentially a chain link fence. The lines are painted in a minimalist white. At the moment, the tennis court lines are pretty faded. The pickleball lines, which were more recently added, stand in stark contrast.
I don’t think a lot of people know about these tennis courts. There is a possibility that I only know about them because two of my high school varsity tennis teammates lived in adjacent houses directly across the street from these courts. Two more members of that team lived in the same neighborhood a couple of streets over. Stop me if you see a pattern. Funny how that works… that kids who grew up with unlimited access to a free tennis court became pretty good tennis players.
I routinely carry cones in my basket of balls. Additionally, I am currently working on serving to targets. It’s a good thing because I don’t think I could have adequately seen the lines of the service box from the opposite side of the “net” without the bright orange visual cues.
I don’t think anyone is terribly concerned with vandalism on these courts. In fact, there is really nothing that can be damaged. As a bonus, those chain link fence nets are not adjustable, so the pickleball lines have to be painted in such a way that the court does not traverse the net. There is a new storage box in one corner of the courts where presumably the pickleball nets are stored.
As I was meditating throughout my service practice, I was struck by the irony that these courts may be one of the few spots in the universe where tennis is more accessible than pickleball. Anyone with a tennis ball and racquet can use these courts on demand. Despite the fact that the courts are lined for pickleball, those nets are stored in a locked box. No pickleball here unless a player has their own net or knows the keeper of the keys.
The tennis courts at Belair Park are my new nostalgic happy place.
