After four years of home games played on borrowed courts, the SCHS tennis team  once again has its own on-campus facilities.

In 2012, when the SCHS campus modernization began, the tennis courts became occupied by a cluster of portable classrooms set up to house teachers and students displaced by the construction. The tennis team, unable to use their courts, began practicing and playing home games at Central Park.  In May of this year, with other campus improvements completed, construction workers finally renovated the courts.

Now with completely new courts, the tennis teams will practice and play home games– at home.

“Our biggest problem was that our ‘home’ games were actually ‘away’, so we had to leave school early regardless of where we played,” girls’ tennis coach Julie Kawamoto said.

Varsity player Katie Knowles remembers carrying all of her racquets, textbooks and school supplies to Central Park her freshman year. The practices were cut short because of the court time limit set by Central Park. In addition, some players depended on rides from others to go to practice and off-campus “home games.”

“It was really impractical for us to go to Central Park in the first place, but it got worse when we had to go to Peterson instead. Peterson Middle School isn’t even in Santa Clara,” varsity player Jasmine Nguyen said.

Last week, in its first home game on the new courts, the varsity girls tennis team defeated Wilcox.  The team’s season will last until the end of fall, or perhaps longer if the team qualifies to CCS. The boys’ team begins their season in the spring.
“I’m happy that we now have our own tennis courts to call home. This is the first time in my tennis experience when I can say ‘my courts,’” Knowles said.