Sports Advisory Board recommends tennis, platform tennis upgrades in Mt. Lebanon
Eileen Ford works on her platform tennis game on one of the courts in Mt. Lebanon.
Scott Kahler follows through during a platform tennis volley.
Harry Funk / Staff Ted Kahler and Eileen Ford take a break from playing platform tennis in Mt. Lebanon.
Improvements recommended for Mt. Lebanon’s tennis center include replacing an old electrical panel.
More than two decades ago, Eileen Ford’s husband started competing in a variation on a popular sport known as platform tennis.
“He tried to get me to play for years,” she said of Ted Ford.
While his efforts to convince her weren’t quite sufficient, some of her pals talked her into it, and now she plays at least three or four times a week.
“It’s a great way to enjoy winter and get exercise,” Eileen explained during a recent practice session. “I hang out with my friends. It’s very social.”
Mt. Lebanon is home to four platform tennis courts as one of the few venues in the Pittsburgh region to offer public facilities, along with Upper St. Clair and North Park. The courts are heated and lighted, allowing for play in adverse weather conditions.
“It’s not that well-known, outside of country clubs, because that’s where most of the facilities are,” Scott Kahler said about the sport, which he teaches in Mt. Lebanon and also is one of the highest-ranked competitors in the area.
Platform tennis, also called paddle tennis, is becoming better known locally, as the Mt. Lebanon Platform Tennis Association has grown to some 150 members. As a result, enthusiasts are looking to improve and expand the existing facilities.
Don Gavett, the association’s president, addressed the Mt. Lebanon Commission on Oct. 26 to help state the case for including the upgrades in the municipal Capital Improvement Program for 2016. Joining him was Walt Henry, president of the indoor tennis board of directors, who spoke about the need for new sidewalks and other work in and around the tennis center.
They told commissioners that the pair of projects represent the top two recommendations of the Mt. Lebanon Sports Advisory Board regarding capital improvements.
Proposed for the tennis center next year is replacing approximately 4,000 square feet of existing sidewalks with concrete versions, at a cost of $104,000. The state of the walkways creates safety issues, Henry said, and the project actually is ranked as the No. 1 need by the sports advisory board.
Also recommended for 2016 is the replacement of an antiquated electrical panel, estimated at $20,600.
“It’s a very large, unwieldy thing that doesn’t have to be there,” recreation director David Donnellan told commissioners.
Landscaping improvements and fence replacement on various courts are proposed for 2017.
With regard to platform tennis, Gavett said that the original two courts date back to the 1970s and are “well beyond their expected life,” and his association plans to pledge $100,000 toward rebuilding them and constructing a fifth court, to be paid over a 10-year period.
The cost of two rebuilt courts and a new one, including planning and design, is estimated at $297,000.
The association previously shared $75,000 of the cost of the other two existing courts, with the final payment to be made this year.
“We eventually want to get to six courts,” Gavett told commissioners.