The Department of Athletics and Recreation continued its efforts to spruce up GW’s facilities and image by giving the home courts for the men’s and women’s tennis teams a new look.
The change may not be as flashy as the monument renderings on the new Smith Center floor, but the newly resurfaced GW Tennis Center is now bright blue with new windscreens lining the surrounding fences. GW logos now also dot the windscreens and courts, which are also available to GW students, club teams and members of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Men’s tennis junior Francisco Dias said players had been pining for the upgrade, part of the athletics department’s strategic plan to renovate facilities.
“We’ve been hearing about the resurfacing of the courts for a while now – for about a year,” Dias said. “And I’ve talked to alumni of the tennis team and they said ‘Yeah, they told us they were gonna resurface the courts when we were there, but it never happened.’ So when the plan finally got passed, we were very excited because the Mount Vernon courts needed it really bad.”
Blue courts have also become trendy in professional tennis, with the organizers of the Madrid Open opting for blue clay last year, claiming it makes it easier to see the ball.
GW has renovated a string of facilities over the last few years, including this summer’s renovation of the Smith Center court and locker room facilities, the completion of Barcroft Park in Arlington last year and and a replacement of the Mount Vernon Campus field turf in 2011.
The University has poured more money into GW sports since an administrative review revealed desperate funding needs last year, though athletics department spokeswoman Emily Simeral said she did not know the cost of the tennis resurfacing.
Resurfacing the tennis courts was also a maintenance requirement, set out in the department’s plan to be completed every 10 years, but the extra designs and rebranding illustrate athletics director Patrick Nero’s commitment to revitalizing GW’s athletic image. Nero has sought to create a strong GW sports community, as well as turn winning teams into branding opportunities for the University as a whole.
The courts now have a professional and more school-spirited look, Dias said, hopefully to future recruits. The men’s tennis team advanced to its fourth straight Atlantic 10 title game last spring, but fell to VCU. The men’s team will kick off its fall schedule Sept. 20 in the Georgetown Classic and the women’s team will begin play Sept. 6 in Towson, Md.
“GW is starting to get on the map, and we’re getting stronger and stronger,” Dias said. “More changes are being made, like new coaching staffs, new sports medicine staff, strength and conditioning staff, and all our recruits – like starting from this year – are better than average, which is something that has never happened before.”
