Camas School District partners with U.S. Tennis Association to open year-round tennis center

In exchange for the use of the Camas High School tennis courts, the USTA will build a dome around the outdoor courts to protect them from rain, wind, snow and other natural elements; resurface the courts with the same high-caliber surface material used by top-tier tennis players competing in the U.S. Open; provide lighting, nets and other tennis-related infrastructure; and operate a community tennis facility that gives preference to student-athletes but also opens the courts to members of the community who pay a low annual fee.

During a May workshop before the Camas School Board, USTA representatives said their intention is to make tennis more accessible to Pacific Northwest communities.

“As the governing body of tennis in the U.S. – our national office runs the U.S. Open each year — we focus on the love of the game and accessibility,” the representatives told school board members, adding that the USTA’s Pacific Northwest region serves about 1.3 million tennis players through “ a cornucopia of programs,” including school-based programs and community tennis hubs like the ones the USTA operates in Vancouver and Tacoma.

The USTA representatives said the organization’s biggest challenge is the lack of accessibility, specifically year-round access, and pointed out that, for a population base of more than 12 million people in the Pacific Northwest region, there are only 585 indoor courts, or one court for every 20,000 people, whereas the national average is one indoor tennis court per every 10,000 residents. The group estimates there are more than one million people in the region who would want to play tennis but cannot due to a lack of indoor court space.

“We believe the game of tennis is a vehicle that can transform lives. Tennis promotes life-long fitness and wellness, instills leadership and sportsmanship, teaches teamwork and life skills, and builds stronger families and healthier communities,” the USTA states on its Vancouver Tennis Center website. “It’s our vision to make tennis accessible to everyone. As the governing body of tennis in the US, we believe our primary responsibility is to live our mission: to promote and develop the growth of tennis in the Pacific Northwest.”

Growing demand, not enough indoor court space

USTA representatives told Camas School Board members in May that, in Clark County, there are 20 indoor tennis courts and only nine of them are open to the general public.

Patrick Dreves, the general manager of facility operations and services for the USTA’s Pacific Northwest region, said the partnership between the Camas School District and the USTA would place Camas High School at the center of the community tennis hub model, while still creating more indoor playing space for members of the public.

“The model serves the entire community,” Dreves said. “Camas High School will get an industry-best tennis experience. The boys team, girls team — everyone at the school will have access to that facility.”

Dreves said the USTA will “bubble” the existing eight tennis courts at Camas High for year-round use and will “manage the day-to-day pieces” including the start-up costs and the operations related to the facility’s “tennis experience.”

The school district, in return, will maintain the “brick and mortar” of the facility, including expanding a parking lot for the new tennis center using money budgeted for capital facility projects, and maintaining access to the building.

“But (USTA) will take ownership of creating that tennis experience and maintaining the quality of that,” Dreves said.

The USTA will resurface the courts using the same surface used at the Vancouver Tennis Center and at the prestigious U.S. Open tennis competition. They also will cover the courts using a 450- by 130- by 43-foot, fully insulated dome with a skylight to bring in natural light in addition to the indoor lighting. The facility will have an HVAC unit with a backup generator and a sensor on the dome to detect things like snow and high winds.

“If it senses there is snow or it is too cold, it will over-inflate and turn the heat up,” the USTA representatives told school board members in May. “There is never any concern about the dome coming down because of temperature or wind.”

Inside the facility, there will be a small lobby area with two restrooms and a small area for what Camas School District’s business manager, Jasen McEathron, called “simple retail.”

“It’s not extravagant,” McEathron said. “If you’ve been to the Vancouver Tennis Center, (you will see that) this is unique to our district, but not to the area.”

Baranowski said the fact that the USTA will resurface the courts as part of the partnership will help the school district avoid a costly maintenance expense.

“The court resurfacing is a big factor,” Baranowski told The Post-Record this week. “It is hundreds of thousands of dollars to resurface a court … and we have cracks running through our courts, so it will need to be resurfaced soon.”

Baranowski said the USTA also has programming for younger elementary and middle school students who are interested in playing for the high school teams someday.

“I know they lean into physical education and donate their equipment and time,” Baranowski said of the USTA. “They will be in our schools, getting equipment to kids and creating opportunities for programming.”

And the new courts could allow Camas High to host local and regional tennis tournaments, Baranowski said, adding “Our hope is that we could host 3A and 4A (competitions) and be part of the mix for the state level (tournaments).”

On a schedule posted to both courts’ entryways, the City has added a provision: “If the courts are not being used, anyone can play either pickleball or tennis. If players of both sports would like to play at the same time, and there is not enough court space for the players of both sports, the sport with priority time is permitted to play and the other players should relinquish the court(s). All remaining days, including Sunday mornings and all afternoons/evenings are open play and are first-come, first-served.”

Many players say the arrangement — which began during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many Camas residents were finding new ways to enjoy local parks and taking up pickleball, a lower-intensity racquet sport said to have originated on Bainbridge Island near Seattle that takes up one-half of a tennis court and is known for being easier to learn and to play than tennis — is working just fine.

But some residents, including one long-time Crown Park tennis player, say there are conflicts between the two groups over who is allowed to be playing on the city-owned courts.

“I grew up in Camas and began playing tennis in 1960, at the age of 8. I have played on the courts each year, regularly, since then,” Camas resident Heinrich Vanderberg told Camas Parks and Recreation Commission members during the Commission’s July 31 meeting.

After the City gave pickleball players — a sport Vanderberg described as “ping pong on steroids” — permission to use the Crown Park tennis courts, the longtime tennis player said he often found conflict when he went to play tennis at his neighborhood park.

“The USTA have been running camps out there in the summer for years,” he said, adding that the new USTA tennis center at Camas High will allow community tennis players the option of purchasing an annual membership fee for use of the covered, year-round courts. The USTA’s Vancouver Tennis Center charges an annual membership fee of $129, plus a $29 initiation fee. Members can then make monthly court reservations at a cost of $24 a week for a 90-minute reservation, and receive 20% off all programs, classes and lessons. The Vancouver Tennis Center also offers free court time for seniors ages 65 and older, and has scholarships available for community members who cannot afford the regular fees or membership charges.

“They price in a way that is accessible for families and they have scholarships available for families who can’t afford those fees,” Baranowski said, adding that the cost of reserving the community tennis courts in Vancouver is much less than at a private tennis facility. “(USTA’s) goal is to grow the game of tennis, which is one of the reasons they were so appealing to partner with.”

In 2018, before the opening of the Vancouver Tennis Center, USTA Pacific Northwest said it was dedicated to growing the sport of tennis in the Pacific Northwest and making it more accessible to would-be tennis players.

“The data is clear. Tennis and the population in the Pacific Northwest continue to grow. Conversely, our demand for indoor space greatly outpaces the supply of tennis courts for new and existing players,” the USTA stated in a news release. “It is with this backdrop that the United States Tennis Association Pacific Northwest strives to build, revitalize, operate and manage tennis facilities. Our overarching goal is to provide affordable, accessible, inclusive and safe health and wellness tennis programs that respond to the unique needs of each community.”

School board approves ‘win-win’ partnership

During their July 22 meeting, Camas School Board members unanimously approved the partnership agreement with the USTA to cover the Camas High School tennis courts and maintain a community tennis center at that location.

In July, before the Camas School Board voted on the partnership agreement, McEathron said the agreement would be a true community model.

“We may have increased student activity there and be able to host districts or state (competitions),” McEathron said. “(The USTA) is committed to doing classes with our elementary kids and middle-school children. This is not about creating an exclusive tennis group. This really is a community tennis model.”

School board member Matthew McBride, encouraged community members to look at the USTA’s community tennis centers in Vancouver and Tacoma.

“There are no costs for seniors at certain hours,” McBride said. “They have moderate costs. They’re not out there to make a buck. I’m impressed with their site and their policies.”

Other school board members said in May that they, too, were impressed by the opportunities the district and Camas community could gain from the partnership.

“I’m super excited, especially after hearing how often the girls can’t get court time,” school board member Connie Hennessey said during the Board’s May workshop. “I think it’s a win-win all around.”