In October 2006, GSFC re-routed Soil Conservation Road around the north side of the Rec Center, so we don't have to go through security gates to get to the courts from the main campus.
In August 2006, the hard courts were resurfaced by All Pro Courts Inc. for $7000.
During the summer of 2006, Andy Germain led an effort to refurbish the lights on the hard courts, getting all of them working for the first time in the 21st century.
In the summer of 2006, GEWA created overflow parking for the Rec Center by expanding the GTC back parking lot, doubling the width of the back road and the number of parking spaces. That also meant enclosing the GTC courts within the Rec Center fence. During big Rec Center events, member's access is routed through the Good Luck Road gate, instead of the main campus.
In September 2003, Bob Davis, who had been a Goddard employee during the 60's-80's and who was largely responsible for getting the GTC courts built, was honored for this achievement and many other public service tennis activities by the USPTA:
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PRESS RELEASE
Robert E. Davis, Upper Marlboro, MD retired Aerospace Engineer/Manager with 50-years experience (16 industrial & 34 gov't), received a United States Professional Tennis Association 30-year Service Award at the 76th USPTA World Conference on Tennis held at the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa from Sept. 13-20, 2003. This award plaque was presented at the Annual Awards Breakfast on Sept. 19th in Hollywood, Florida. Bob had previously received the prestigious Master Tennis Teaching Professional rating in Sept., 1987. Only 137 out of 13,000 members have ever received this highest recognition from their peers.
Robert E. Davis, 3704 Bethwood Court, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772-7787, P: 301-627-6257. |
In 2002, the big old plywood practice wall filled with gravel was taken down and replaced by a smaller tough new fiberglass wall filled with sand. The old wall was coming part at the seams due to weathering. The new wall is tipped to bounce the ball back farther, and curved to return the ball back closer to the centerline.
In September 2001, GSFC security began requiring employee picture-badges for admittance to the campus, and minimization of GEWA club activities.
In September 2001, the International Tennis Federation voted overwhelmingly to allow three different types of tennis ball according to the pace of the surface -- ball type 1 (fast speed), ball type 2 (medium speed) and ball type 3 (slow speed).
In 2001, a new "super tiebreak" was also approved by thr ITF as an experiment until the end of next year to replace the deciding final set in a three or five set match. The first player to 10 points will win the new super tiebreak provided he leads by a margin of two points.
In November 2000, Dennis Chesters collected a 35-gallon trash can full of used tennis balls for the Baltimore school system to muffle the table and chair legs in their classrooms. It is an exercise for the reader to estimate how many tennis balls there are in 35 gallons. In 2001, Mike Powers did likewise for an Anne Arundle County school.
In December 2000, another dead oak tree fell down from the west edge of the parking lot into the woods, knocking a healthy pine back out into the parking lot. Dennis Chesters cut it up by hand and returned the logs to the woods in early spring.
Late in 1998, the lights on the hard courts were finally repaired, thanks to diligent work by Alex Keoppl and Earl Gernert, using the scaffolding scavenged by Keiji Tasaki, and using the bulbs and ballasts brought in by Dan Mandl in previous years. Thanks to the more potent hardware, the hard courts are now better lighted than when they were installed over 20 years ago by the legendary Bob Davis.
The pay phone at courtside was removed in 1997 -- AT&T was renting it to us for $52/month.
We replaced it with a local business line for $19/month plus per-call charges.
The new number is....(301) 982-0511 -- please make a note of it.
The Club must pay the local per-call charges, so go easy.
Chuck Neff retired as grounds keeper in the summer of 1997. Larry Waters has taken over since then, and done an energetic job of keeping the courts rolled and clean.
Some former club members who can not make the commute back to GSFC are:
- Steve Holt, who retired and moved to Boston in 2000.
- Roger Ledoux, who retired and moved to Maine in 1998.
- Phil Miller (pm@fox.cen.com), who moved to Atlanta in 1996.
- Yiannis Serlemitsos, who moved to Zambia in 1996.
The hard courts were resurfaced in 1996, before the cracks got out of hand. That cost $6000, which was borrowed from GEWA and repaid over the next 4 years, straining the club budget.
In 1995, Craig Powers put up a large, sturdy backboard behind court 10 to practice hitting. Usage rules are the same as for the ball machine -- you can use the backboard unless two other players want court 10. In 1996, Craig added side-boards on hinges to bounce back those mis-hits.
The Ladder season goes from April 15th (IRS day) to October 31st (Halloween).
