Totem Middle School tennis courts get facelift
Published 10:13 pm Tuesday, August 5, 2008
MARYSVILLE — Layers of dirt turn green tennis balls brown at Totem Middle School.
Faded lines can make it difficult to call games.
Uneven spots send balls bouncing in unexpected directions.
The game’s about to change.
The tennis courts at Totem Middle School are being resurfaced as part of a project to spruce up the school’s play area. Once finished, the eight courts should make the nicest tennis facility in Marysville, said Arnie Moreno, the Shorewood High School tennis coach who also teaches several summer tennis classes in Marysville.
“I’m just thrilled,” he said. “It definitely is an asset to the community to have those refurbished and kept up in beautiful condition for the future.”
In addition to resurfacing the courts with a surface called Plexi-Pave, the Marysville School District is transforming part of a play area at Totem into a basketball court. A new fence will divide the two areas. The project is expected to cost about $60,000, school district athletic director Greg Erickson said.
“We’re trying to do a face-lift,” he said. “It’s kind of a community (and) school project to do some clean up on that campus and improve its visual appeal.”
Community teams and recreational tennis players are welcome to use the courts. The Marysville-Pilchuck High School tennis team may also eventually decide to play at Totem, Erickson said.
The infrastructure at the high school’s deteriorating courts is in such bad shape, the courts would be too expensive to repair, he said.
Moreno remembers watching his son compete at Totem Middle School shortly after the courts opened in the early ’90s.
“The courts were beautiful back then,” he recalled. “Definitely over the years, through just lack of cleaning and … rough wear and tear and getting dirty, they’ve been going downhill.”
Moreno spends 16 to 18 hours a week playing and coaching tennis at Totem each summer. He hopes the school will maintain the new courts so he can enjoy smoother games well into the future.
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
