Under-cover project

Indoor tennis facility may arrive if Martin’s proposal is approved

Greg Schain
Published: Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Usually, dreams have no boundaries.

But in the case of UCLA men’s head tennis coach Billy Martin, his dream has four walls and a roof over it.

Backed by the Southern California Tennis Association, several private donors and his own team, Martin has proposed to the athletic department that a roof be built over four of the courts at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.

The indoor courts will give his team and members of the UCLA community a place to go when the weather isn’t cooperating.

“For us, there are no indoor courts within a hundred miles of here,” Martin said.

And because of the dearth of indoor tennis facilities in the area, the men’s tennis team, just days away from their most important matches of the regular season, were stuck not being able to practice Monday.

“These will really help us,” Martin said. “If we had these courts, I would have given our guys the option of hitting (Monday).”

However, whether these plans become reality is still an if – a very big if.

“Nothing is being built. Our coaches are allowed to dream,” said Associate Athletic Director Ken Weiner. “Billy, years ago, put in a dream so he could have courts for in-climate weather like (Monday).”

However, Weiner later said that the athletic department supports Martin’s plans, and that they intend on working with UCLA Recreation and the Westwood community in order to get the facility built.

But the process isn’t easy, Weiner emphasized.

Even after funding for the project is secured, UCLA Recreation would have to agree to the plans, as would the Westwood Homeowners Association.

Also, the environmental impact would have to be studied to make sure the project doesn’t violate any local regulations.

But according to Weiner, the athletic department will advocate the project.

“The project has been on a greater scheme since (Athletic Director) Dan Guerrero came on board (last June),” Weiner said. “He is more facilities-oriented than (former Athletic Director) Pete Dalis.”

According to Martin, the total cost will likely be somewhere between $500,000 and $600,000.

All of the money would come from private donations, with one reliable donor already promising to put up half of the money.

The actual roof structure would be built somewhere else, and then shipped onto campus. Only the support structure, the actual metal frame, would be built on-site.

That would take two to three weeks, according to Martin, which would be the only time the courts would be inoperable.

“It’s definitely not a six-month thing,” Martin said.

If all goes well, the courts could be ready in the fall. According to Weiner, it could be much longer (or maybe never) if the plan gets stalled in the approval process.

“By the end of the summer, we hope to have a good plan we can go on,” Weiner said. “But these (approval processes) could go on for years.”

The courts would not only give the UCLA men’s tennis team and the community a place to play when it rains, but they would enhance UCLA’s bid to host the NCAA Championships.

When UCLA hosted the NCAA Championships in 1997, the NCAA made UCLA have three indoor courts be ready to use in 24 hours’ notice if rain was in the forecast.

Courts were set up in Pauley Pavilion at the time.

“This will give us a great advantage in any bid we make in the future,” Martin said.