The Shawnee Mission School District decided to repair the tennis courts in front of SM North during the tennis season.

The tennis courts needed to be repaired, but the timing interrupted the girls tennis season. The original plan was to resurface them at the end of summer, but plans were rearranged and it ended up being redone Sept.17-21. The whole project was done in less than a week and cost $21,500.

The decision to repair the courts while athletes were still playing caused frustration for freshman tennis player Effie Campbell.

“It surprised me because of the timing,” Campbell said. “The timing was terrible, we were still practicing and JV’s tennis game was coming up.”

There may be frustration, but assistant tennis coach Jon Durham said that

the courts needed to be redone because there were cracks on the courts which were a safety hazard. When it rained, the cracks on the courts would puddle up, making the courts slick. Durham said that when athletes and students in gym class would go out on the courts to play, it could cause an accident.

“The old courts had lots of cracks so when the ball hit them it would go in all weird directions,” Campbell said. “The plus side of it was after it was resurfaced it was a lot smoother and the ball would go in the right direction.”