The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Commitment to our community’
New state-of-art tennis courts point of pride for college, city
MIDDLETOWN — Monday afternoon’s unveiling of Wesleyan University’s John Wood Memorial tennis courts on Vine Street was a bit bittersweet for Michael A. Fried.
He’s still riding high after Eudice Chong, his first recruit as head tennis coach, became the first person in history, in any division, to win four National Collegiate Athletic Association Singles Championships.
But Chong has graduated.
“It makes me feel proud, excited and absolutely distraught for them that she’s no longer with us,” the head coach for women’s and men’s tennis said about Chong, who graduated in May.
“Even as a junior she was an incredible athlete,” Fried said about the 22-year-old resident of Hong Kong.
“It would be a little bit untrue to say I saw her as the best player in her division. I saw she was a great team player — somebody you could really build a program around — and then we got really lucky. She turned out to be even better than that. She turned out to be the best person, the best leader, the best student-athlete,” he said.
The courts, inaugurated with a ribbon cutting attended by state and local dignitaries, Wesleyan officials and others on Monday, have been in use by local high school tennis players since late last summer.
“As people come into the city or drive around campus, they see this spectacular new facility. It’s a sign that Middletown cares about the health of its citizens, and Wesleyan cares about quality of play for its athletes, and that Middletown and Wesleyan care about one another,” Wesleyan President Michael Roth said.
It’s that spirit of collaboration that marks the joint project, for which the funding — $1.4 million — was shared equally by the city and university.
In 2017, Wesleyan and the city of Middletown partnered on a project to rehabilitate and upgrade the facility. This week, these 16 new, state-of-theart courts were inaugurated in a setup that includes team benches, windscreens, enhanced bleachers, fencing, and cameras with the ability to livestream matches.
The renovation doubled the number of courts, with eight designated to Wesleyan teams and eight leased to the city of Middletown. The site can now hold large matches or tournaments.
Local high school students, and adults and children who take tennis lessons through the recreation department are among those who can use the facility. When there are no lessons or events taking place, the city’s courts are available for use by the public.
One of the great things about the partnership from a Wesleyan perspective is that there is enough room for families to watch their athletes compete, and coaches to work with high school and college tennis players, Roth told those gathered.
“As a citizen of Middletown, it’s great to come out here on the weekend and see a lot of people who don’t hit as hard as Eudice Chong, and don’t always keep it within the lines, out here having a good time, enjoying recreation — sometimes learning how to play a game, and other times, getting together with their friends and neighbors,” Roth said.
Chong embodies the traits of a true athlete, Fried said, something she honed on the courts in Middletown.
“It takes a stubbornness and a resilience, and I think that was one of the interesting things, because she had Ivy League schools and full scholarships to top Division 1 programs, and she chose to come here,” Fried said. “Partly because of both the opportunity to have that balance — to find a motivation with her teammates — and to help create, and be part of, a culture that felt more familial than strictly competitive.”
Cultivating a sense of balance in sports is just one of the things Chong learned about the game of tennis during her education in Middletown, Fried added.
Now, Chong is hoping to pursuing a pro tennis career.
Interconnectedness is also a theme running through the career of Cathy Lechowicz, the new director of Middletown’s recreation and community service. Prior to the position, she led Wesleyan’s Jewett Center for Community Partnerships, spearheading community programs such as the former Green Street Teaching and Learning Center, and WESU-FM.
“This is a genuine connection, a genuine commitment to our community. What a great visible sign of the connection: seeing the city of Middletown right next to Wesleyan,” she said, gesturing to the tennis court signs.
“People drive by here all the time, and whether they’re using the courts or not, it’s really symbolic of the work we do together,” said Lechowicz, whose duties include scheduling tennis lessons for residents.
Mike Whalen, Wesleyan director of athletics and chairman of physical education, is excited at the possibility of the university acting as host for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference open championships next year. The tournament would require all 16 courts, something that wouldn’t be possible without this new facility, Whalen said.
Whalen has an eye out to one day act as host for the New England Small College Athletic Conference or National Collegiate Athletic Association championships.
“We would work together on those dates to make sure people knew a year ahead of time,” he said, referencing public works staff.
“Part of the advantage of having a facility like this is that you can bring people from all around the state — and the country. There would be teams from California that would come out here to play a national championship if we hosted a national event,” Whelen said.
“You’re bringing people into the city for hotel rooms, for meals — it’s really an opportunity for the city. When you have a facility like that, you want to showcase it,” he added.