Many sports teams at Berkeley High School commute to other facilities for weekly practices and games — the tennis team being one of them. In 2001, BHS repaved the tennis courts into a faculty parking lot to address the lack of parking for BHS staff and faculty. Currently the boys and girls tennis teams practice at various courts in Berkeley, this includes the courts at Hearst, Grove Park, and San Pablo Park. However, there is a possibility that the Hearst Tennis Courts will also be converted into another parking structure, jeopardizing the BHS girls tennis team’s practices.
BHS junior Sofia Bloom addressed the effect that further tennis courts have had on practices during her three years on the varsity girls tennis team. The commute up to the Hearst courts has routinely been an issue when it comes to starting practice on time. “If you missed the bus, you were gonna be late, and at that point, you were already in too deep to walk and be on time. I think it definitely created, not a bad culture, but almost this animosity, between us and the coach, or the other players who were late and then you had to wait. I think it’s definitely a very big issue for the team,” Bloom said.
Another challenge has been that the tennis team is one of the sports at BHS that doesn’t have a locker room, which has put the burden on coaches to store their pratice gear, rackets, and uniforms. Maya Gearen, a BHS junior on the varsity girls tennis team, said, “there’s nowhere to store our stuff, really, so Coach Tiffany, who’s also a counselor, stores it in her office … I think it’s hard on Coach Tiffany, because there are a lot of logistical aspects that are really complicated.”
Jeffrey Jue has been the boys tennis coach at BHS for eleven years; in his entire time working, tennis has never had a home court. Things like bathrooms, changing rooms, storage rooms, and efficiency from school to practice aren’t problems for the teams that practice and play at BHS, however they are constant struggles for the tennis teams. “It’s a big inconvenience and sacrifice for our students, and you have to be a very dedicated student athlete to be on this team,” Jue said.
The absence of a home court has not only been unstable for the coaches and players, but has also interfered with a strong sense of school spirit and community. “I would say that it just feels more disjointed, having to commute up there for all of our matches. No one from Berkeley High (School), because it’s kind of far away, comes for home support, other than parents. The other sports teams, a lot of times, have more people watching,” Gearen said.
Having the opportunity to play at home fosters community and team pride within teams. Competing at your home court brings more energy, excitement, and confidence to players. However, many BHS tennis players have not been able to experience this.
“I think that your courts, or your field, or your home base, is an important part of the team identity. When you’re in sports leagues, and you’re at home, you have the one up (advantage), because that’s your home. That’s your safe place, in a way. And I think it was hard to feel that when (our) courts were so far away from our school,” Bloom said.
She also discussed the impact that less convenient commutes have had on her experience as a student athlete. “It’s just a very stressful time, and I think it has made practice not as inviting. It just affected me in the way that I lost a lot of practice time to sit down conversations about what it means to be on time, and I also lost practice time when I missed the bus or had to stay behind and talk to a teacher,” Bloom explained.
BHS is the only public high school in the Bay Area without home tennis courts; Coach Jue believes that lacking courts has had a detrimental impact on chances for students to become involved with the sport. “To me, it’s about opportunity. (BHS), had tennis courts for fifty years. Until 2001, they had six courts. Now they don’t have any. So it’s a sacrifice for everybody, and a lack of opportunity for some people that can’t join a (tennis) club, or don’t have the money to take lessons. But my thing as a coach is to give people an opportunity to at least try and see if they like the game,” Jue said. He thinks that if more students got to see the tennis courts being played on, it would draw more people to try out for the team.
Overall, the whole tennis program has been negatively impacted by the absence of a home court. “The issue is complicated, because for the long term plan, it interferes with the softball team too. It’s a bigger plan than some people realize, because they’re rerouting a city street: Derby. I feel like part of the reason that it’s taken so long is because of these nuances, and it’s not something the school can fully control,” Gearen said.
Students in the tennis program have been attending Berkeley Unified School District School Board meetings to make their voices heard about the court issue. In the face of uncertainty and challenge, the BHS tennis program has been committed to self advocacy. Both coaches and players remain hopeful that at-home courts could be a reality in the near future, and that these courts will help both tennis teams attract more supporters and more members.