Westhill teams finally get their home
Project to refurbish courts complete
STAMFORD — The timing isn’t perfect, but the future benefits are infinite.
The FCIAC season has concluded for the Westhill High School boys and girls tennis teams, but the Vikings finally have a wonderful place to call home.
The resurfacing and refurbishing of the Westhill High School tennis courts was recently finished. The Vikings will now be able to practice for the state tournaments — which begin May 26 — on site on fashionably school-color purple courts.
If the sun ever shines again in Stamford, the teams will hold a formal ceremony to inaugurate the courts.
“It feels like a Division I college tennis complex. The purple courts are beautiful,” Westhill boys coach Patrik Vician said. “The only thing left to do is put up the wind screens.”
The court resurfacing and refurbishing process began roughly 18 months ago. It is something that could have taken place at the end of the 2017 high school season, but all of the approvals needed along the way through the city of Stamford and in the education budget process, as well as the terrible spring weather delayed the project.
It is a victory for the tennis teams and the parents of the players who showed great determination over time. The work was necessary because there were areas of the courts that posed dangers to player safety.
“We started an online petition about this in October 2016,” said Juliet Kaba, who has two daughters — senior Maddie and freshman Jacqueline — on the girls squad. “It’s been an inordinate amount of time, but we’re all happy it’s finished.”
Without the courts, the Westhill teams were forced to play home matches and practice on the courts in Cummings Park. The boys occasionally practiced at AITE, where there are only
three available courts.
“The best thing about having the new courts at Westhill is the students can get behind and give support to both tennis programs,” said Maddie Kaba, who played No. 1 singles. “During a match at Cummings Park, I’d just see my mom and my sister. At school, it can be a special atmosphere. You can show people all the hard work you’ve put into the team and the sport.”
“The girls had their Senior Day (last high school home match) at Cummings. There were three fans besides the parents,” Juliet Kaba said. “That’s not a celebration.”
So that the three seniors on the girls squad (Maddie Kaba, Julia Frederick, Pat Kober) and the four seniors on the boys roster (Nikhil Arora, Matt Greenbaum, Sarthak Behl, Nikhil Tungaturthy) can experience a live match on the new courts, coaches Vician and Erica Brunner are trying to set up a scrimmage with two other schools.
The Trinity Catholic High School tennis teams play home matches at Scalzi Park. King School plays home matches at Sterling Farms because they have no courts on their campuses. Stamford High got their on-campus courts resurfaced before this season.
Despite the obstacles, both Westhill teams had success this season. The boys finished at 11-5 in the FCIAC but were ousted by Ridgefield in last Friday’s FCIAC quarterfinals.
The girls finished at 9-7 to earn the No. 8 seed for the FCIAC playoffs. They lost in last Thursday’s quarterfinals to No. 1 seed Darien.
The new courts should make for a bright future.
The boys team could return as many as nine would-be seniors and four would-be juniors. Westhill has won the State Open boys doubles title five times and been Open doubles runner-up twice since 2010.
“It’s a huge change,” Vician said. “No more concerns about injuries. Many opponents didn’t want to play on the old courts. Finally, we have a home base we can be proud of. On the old courts if it rained we couldn’t practice on them for two days. Now if it rains we just get the squeegees out and then we practice. We have peace of mind. No more travelling across town to get to work. And on campus student support will be great.”
The girls team could return as many as two would-be seniors, five would-be juniors and five would-be sophomores. As a No. 23 seed, Westhill advanced to the 2017 Class L team semifinals.
“The girls have been anxiously awaiting the new tennis courts. Besides being excited for the convenience of playing on the school campus, the girls are even more excited about these courts because they feel as though they were a part of the process of getting the courts done,” Brunner said. “Both teams went to speak with Mayor (David) Martin last spring to advocate for new courts and I’m sure they feel proud that their efforts were successful — even though the courts were not ready for the season. The players even played a role in getting the courts done in purple to represent our school colors/school spirit.”