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.