Cambria Part III

 I volunteered to help with the beginners' class this morning.  They do it every Friday and dedicate one of the six courts to the class.

They don't get a lot of turnout, today there were 6.

The usual instructor is out with health issues for a while and the players volunteer to help out.  There was only one guy and so my help was useful.

I also talked to one of the founding members.  The courts were built in 2015 with money from the players and a couple of donors kicked in about 2/3rds of the cash.

The club is reponsible for maintenance and repair and landscaping, etc.  The club dues are currently $75 per year or $10 per month or $3 for a drop in fee.  But wait, there is more...  The courts are reserved from 8 to noon for the members and drop in guests who pay, and after noon, the courts are open to all with no cost.  I'm told it gets windy and hot in the afternoons here.  The sheds are locked up in the afternoon and you've got the bring your own stuff.

The club provides all the balls.  As I mentioned in a prior post, there are nice stainless ball holders for each court.

They have two sheds, one for maintenance stuff, blowers and squeegees, and the other for an "office" for paperwork and some spare paddles and a lost and found with hangers for jackets -- which I thought was a very useful touch.

Rich, the member, mentioned that the building of the courts was challenging as the guy who did it, didn't get the surface quite right.  Had to do that again, then didn't have enough for a new color coating.  The upshot is that the current top layer is a single coat and it probably ought to be thicker.  Any chips or wear will reveal incorrectly colors.

They also have a large insurance policy and pay for the portapotties in the parking lot.

Ok, now for some pictures.  First is the squeegee, about $200 came with extra blades.  Rich was very happy with them.  They have two.

Here is a commercial training board.  Looks pretty good and useful.  This is also their deck with shades that can be lowered to block morning sun.

This is the office shed with a desk and other administrative aids.

The club is pretty much on their own.  If they want to make changes, they just do it.  There are some boundaries, but not much.  They are in partnership with the local school district, who gave them the property to build on and share the parking lot. 

I didn't talk to a lot of members, though a number of them said hi and were friendly.  

The play I saw today was mostly banging.  I mentioned it to Rich and he agreed with my assessment.  He confessed that he was known to bang rather than dink.

The quality of the play was down a step from Sunday morning.  It seems that Sunday is the day for the heavy weights to come out.  

The class lasted from 9 to 11, I got my group playing pretty quckly, they had had some racquet experience and that helped.  By 11 four of the courts were in play, all doubles.  A couple of folks came by and practiced a bit.  Mostly hitting top spin drives from mid court.

It's a very nice facility and the folks are friendly.  If you get down this way, you might want to check it out.