This web site intends to be a repository for the observations and musings of an old public court tennis player, who often whacks the ball around on the courts in Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. See below a composite photo from the Queen E site. As with all photos shown in pages of this blog, click on it to enlarge.
In the top section is pictured court five, in February 2009, when all courts remained the uncoated asphalt that had been laid down in 1997-98. Prior to that the courts at Queen E Park had been painted, and there were more of them. The site overhaul of 1997-1998 converted the area occupied by some tennis courts at the west end of the site to the basketball courts and hockey rinks that are still there today. Pictured at bottom is our first painted court of recent times….famous Blue Court Nine, colour coated in the summer of 2009.
The tennis courts lie atop a water reservoir. The asphalt layer is thin, and temperature differentials more pronounced than elsewhere, we are told. Court nine was painted as a test, to see if a colour coated surface would survive the winter uncracked. It did, and in the summer of 2010 Park Board delivered on a promise to colour coat the whole site. See below court five in its new, blue incarnation.
In total there are seventeen courts here on Little Mountain. Nine courts are aligned east-west, rather than in the usual north-south orientation. This makes them very good for winter play, when the sun stays low in the sky. If we are lucky enough to see the sun at all, it moves along the south side of the court – no glare into players’ eyes. In the past, the rough asphalt surface prevented those courts from getting dangerously slippery when wet. The newly coated courts, which are very slow (surface latex loaded with fine sand), are similarly friendly to winter play. Some of us play tennis here all year round. We are the QEhardrocks.
Read about our court draggers, for picking up water from the courts.
