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Happy hockey: James Denniston (left) and Andre Chalmers at Frankton’s cracked tennis surface
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Frankton’s tatty – and dangerous – tennis courts are getting a $100,000 facelift.
Contractor Fulton Hogan is redoing the crack-ridden asphalt surface to prepare it for an overlay of new Astroturf.
Tennis nets on the two courts will become removable and night lights are being installed to allow long-suffering Queenstown Hockey Club teams a winter practice venue.
The hockey club, contributing $10,000, has been one of the main catalysts for the upgrade.
It’s been pushing Queenstown Lakes District Council for an all-weather practice pitch so players don’t have to go through to Cromwell so often to train.
A nasty injury to a court user who recently twisted her ankle in a crack and tore ligaments is also understood to have spurred the council into action.
QLDC project manager Russell Engelke says Fulton Hogan and Total Power Services are working in tandem on the “shocker” surface and lights. It should be done in two weeks.
“The hockey teams won’t have to travel to Cromwell [as much] – driving on icy roads in dark, winter conditions is not a recipe for growing a club,” he says.
Engelke says five poles with six night lights are being put up. A cellphone text-based operating system is being considered.
The Community Trust of Southland chipped in $15,000 and the council is paying $60,000. The $14,000 shortfall is coming from savings on a nearby QLDC landscaping project.
Hockey Club spokesman James Denniston says players are stoked about the new all-purpose Astroturf surface being laid.
“It’s literally a third of the size of a full pitch, but we can practise our penalty corners which is major part of the game.”
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