While noting issues with the tennis courts located by Caverna High School Terry Bunnell hosted a tennis clinic where, with the help of several others, taught young kids some basic tennis skills. He also helped Superintendent Amanda Abell with her serve. Michael Crimmins/Glasgow News 1.
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Slightly outside the limits of Cave City, off U.S.-31W, sits four tennis courts on the campus of Caverna High School. The courts have multiple cracks — some of which run the entire length of the courts — and unkempt nets that are the result of numerous years without regular maintenance; it is disrepair that both Caverna Schools and the Glasgow-Barren County Community Foundation is aiming to fix.
Caverna Superintendent Amanda Abell said the school is currently writing a grant through the United States Tennis Association to “help cover the cost of [the tennis courts] reconstruction,” which will be more involved than simply resurfacing. As Abell said, and confirmed by Caverna graduate Terry Bunnell, who has “helped spearheaded” the reconstruction project and is president of the Glasgow-Barren County Community Foundation, reconstruction would involve taking the four courts down to the gravel underneath — or maybe bringing in new gravel if necessary, Bunnell said — pouring new asphalt and installing new nets and poles.
Abell also said after the reconstruction she would put in place a regular maintenance plan in place.
“The courts are in such shape that we can’t just resurface, we’re going to have to reconstruct these four courts because of the significant cracking and, honestly, because of lack of maintenance over the years,” Abell said. “It’s been several years [since it was regularly maintained] and…they’ve resurfaced the courts in the past and…by just resurfacing the cracks start to open up again underneath.”
In total, Abell said, the reconstruction project will cost approximately $200,000; half of which Bunnell and the Glasgow-Barren County Community Foundation have committed to raising through donations from “businesses and individuals.”
“We want to bring tennis back and bring just the play of it, the fitness [and] the community that it is,” Bunnell said. “We need to restore that at Caverna High School. We want to make sure that opportunities are available for young people today.”
“There’s lots of good attributes to tennis. Right now we can’t play on [the courts] because of the cracks,” Bunnell added.
Currently Bunnell did not specify how much they have raised so far as they are fairly early on in the project but he said they are “off and going” with a couple of donations already.
In addition to the $200,000 reconstruction project Abell also said the grant required a drainage test to be conducted that is not included in the total. Abell said she doesn’t currently have an estimate on that cost as she is “waiting for an engineer to get back with [her].”
“This is all part of the bigger picture to revitalize our tennis program,” Abell said.
In that effort Caverna has also hired a tennis couch, Danielle Carver, who is a 2015 Caverna graduate. There will also be tennis clinics at the courts that aim to teach people the basics of the game.
“We don’t want [the courts] to just be the school’s; we want these to be community courts,” Abell said. “I would love to drive by and see people out here utilizing these courts.”
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