Earlier this year, Principal Matthew Zito proposed to build a new two-story building in the current location of M-A’s seventh tennis court this summer to accommodate the large influx of new students to come. These construction plans have since been met with vehement protest from the tennis community.
M-A’s seventh tennis court, known colloquially as Court 7, was built in 2001 after the tennis community worked collaboratively to fundraise, with individual donations rising as high as $25,000. Varsity matches and post-season events such as CCS require a minimum of seven courts; as a result, the installment of Court 7 has greatly helped advance M-A’s tennis program.
Assistant coach Carlos Aguilar wrote in a letter to Zito: “I’ve spent 15 years and [head coach] Tom [Sorenson] 13 years building a first-class program and facility second to none in our league. […] We have spent all these years raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve our facility while hundreds of parents have volunteered thousands of man hours, money, and resources to build the program and facility we have.”
The new building would replace not only Court 7, but also the sheds, plaza, and display walls in the adjacent space, which have stored tennis supplies and displayed the team’s achievements for years.
In the April 15 board meeting, the Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD) Board of Trustees ruled in favor of the construction and recommended that a new contiguous tennis court, along with storage sheds and viewing areas, be built on the Ringwood side of campus for a cost of roughly $300,000.
In response to construction plans, members of the tennis community suggested that the building be erected elsewhere, proposing the open area in front of the aquatic facility as a viable alternative. However, last July, a group of LPA Architects employees collaborated to identify potential spaces on the M-A campus for the new building and deemed Court 7’s location the most suitable area, and the SUHSD Board of Trustees sided with the opinion of the architectural firm in the April meeting.
Despite lack of support from the district, the tennis community has maintained its firm stance opposing the construction to come. Aguilar, after writing a letter of protest to Zito, encourages other M-A parents and students to do the same. On Thursday, April 9, members of the tennis program congregated at the courts to support the boys tennis players in their sixth consecutive PAL championship win and stood united against the construction plans.
Additionally, freshman Isabelle Sapountzis, a member of the girls open tennis team, began a petition to preserve Court 7 that has garnered nearly 200 signatures. According to the Palo Alto Online, Dick Gould, Stanford’s Director of Tennis, also backs the movement opposing the construction.
Says senior Laila Volpe, a veteran of the girls varsity team, “I have had a great experience playing with this team for the last four years, and part of the experience of playing as a team is watching from the courtyard and cheering your team on. It will be a shame if such a hard-earned part of the tennis program has to go.”
