Hull YPI Lawn Tennis Club has combated severely compacted and contaminated sand-filled artificial courts with the help of synthetic specialists Replay Maintenance.
Formed in 1906, and once the largest tennis club in Europe, it offers players a mixture of artificial and natural grass courts.
The three artificial surfaces had suffered because of minimal maintenance taking place and led Pippa Munzer, and her fellow committee members, to take the decision in April to call in help to bring them back to safe and playable conditions.
Pippa’s been a member at Hull YPI for almost 40 years and now sits on the committee board with eight others. To help fulfil the now year-round demands for tennis, Hull YPI offer 3 floodlit artificial courts. However, over the years the maintenance hadn’t kept up with the level of play and over the winter of 2016 the situation peaked.
“As well as holding water, they were contaminated with dirt and moss and with continued play it was moving further and further down the pile,” says Pippa. “With the courts so slippery and dangerous it was becoming a liability concern, we didn’t want any accidents. Our coach was even forced to cancel or relocate sessions as the courts just weren’t in good enough condition.”
In a desperate attempt to retain members, they applied for a maintenance loan through the Yorkshire LTA who provided a list of approved contractors to conduct the work.
“We called a few and Replay were one of the first to get back to us, with their Steven Spence arranging to come in and meet us to assess the courts. He was so knowledgeable and gave us technical, expert advice as well as testing the courts in their current condition. By the time he left, we were reassured there were options available to us and with the level of expertise Steve had demonstrated, we’d already made the decision to go with Replay.”
To fit in with a scheduled Open Day, Replay conducted their Rejuvenation process, a deep-clean, across the courts at the end of April. “Though the weather was against them, the Replay operators worked tirelessly to get the job done. When it became apparent our courts were some of the worst they’d ever faced, the operators called for additional support – determined not to let us down and they didn’t,” says Pippa.
“Since the work the courts haven’t been slippery; they’re free draining and some of our members who tour for league matches now say ours are some of the best courts in the area – all positive feedback! This will hopefully help to retain, if not boost, our membership as well as ensure the lifespan of our facilities.”
Replay’s tennis court Rejuvenation process uses unique constant compressed air flow through plenum to completely remove all surface debris, de-compact the carpet and extract contaminated infill, restoring the court to an ‘as new’ condition for appearance, drainage and performance.
