The Hall High tennis court reconstruction is underway and the project is taking much longer than anticipated, leaving the tennis teams unaware of when they’ll be able to return to their home courts. 

Tennis is a staple of spring sports for some students at Hall. With the courts growing in age, it was a matter of time before a complete restoration was needed. Construction of the tennis courts started halfway through September, as opposed to the planned start time in June. Senior at Hall and Tennis Captain, James Birbara, said he learned about the reconstruction of the courts midway through his junior year. He was informed that the courts would be done well before the season so his senior season would be played at Hall.

Many delays were encountered, leading to a lack of communication between the school and the community. Hall Physical Education Teacher, and West Hartford resident, Mark Corey, was just going about his curriculum when construction started. “I found out the day an excavator came and just started taking down fences, and I was like, well, looks like they’re redoing the courts.” This unanticipated start date threw off his plans for one of his classes, Lifetime Activities and Sustainable Living, which plays tennis.

With the project still under construction, the varsity boys and girls tennis team are left looking for courts to call home. When asked about the issue, West Hartford Public Schools Athletic Director Jason Siegal said, “So they haven’t had any matches(at the time of the interview). So currently the plan is for them to play the varsity matches at the Hartford Tennis Club, which is over behind, like, Target over there, that parking lot. And then we’re also looking at matches, st. Joe’s University for matches.”

So far this season the Varsity teams have used the athletic facilities at St. Joseph University., Kingswood Oxford, and Hartford Tennis Club. While the varsity teams have found a home on the road, the Junior Varsity and Freshman teams are left practicing on the unfinished courts here at Hall High School.

The serviceable life of the courts was deemed to be fulfilled, which is what caused courts to be redone. In the spring of 2022, the courts were covered with cracks, forcing the school to take a temporary measure of selling the courts. This yearly maintenance cost the town $60,000, according to the offices of State Senator Derek Slap, who helped create the funding for the project.

The new courts cost $3 million between the two schools, $1.5 million for Hall. The project was funded by the Connecticut State Bond Commission, which reviews funding proposals for the state of Connecticut.

State representative, Tammy Exum, said “Athletic facilities at Hall and Conard High Schools have needed upgrading for quite some time now,”. When Captain Birbara was asked about the conditions of the previous courts he said “There were like inch-wide cracks and people were getting hurt.”