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LA PALOMA — About four days a week, the Bulldogs tennis team has been traveling to San Benito High School to practice on its tennis courts.
Since Riverside Middle School opened in 2006, its tennis players haven’t had a home on which to play.
Still, the young team’s been growing, its players honing their talents.
Now, the school off U.S. 281 is getting its own tennis courts.
At district offices, officials are waiting on Cameron County to issue permits to complete the $1.7 million project.
“We’re excited,” Felix Villalpando, the school’s athletic director, said Wednesday. “It’s an inconvenience to travel to the high school but the kids love to play.”
Earlier this week, school board members met behind closed doors to discuss the project.
On Wednesday, trustee Janie Lopez stated she couldn’t disclose matters discussed in executive session.
“It’s a little bit of a mess,” board member Ariel Cruz only said.
Decision to build Riverside courts
Across the school district, Riverside is the only middle school unequipped with tennis courts.
At Berta Cabaza and Miller Jordan middle schools, players on each campus practice on four tennis courts.
Then last year, the school board began planning to build tennis courts at Riverside — although trustees hadn’t earmarked money for the project when they passed their budget.
“It’s the only middle school that doesn’t have tennis courts so I think it was fair since the other two middle schools had courts and Riverside doesn’t,” Cruz said of her vote for the project. “I only wish it would have been budgeted better.”
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs’ years of travel for after-school practice adds up.
“It’s quite a distance to bus the students there,” Cruz said.
The project
After reviewing construction bids, board members contracted with Austin-based Hellas Construction to build the four tennis courts for $452,690.
As part of the project, board members hired Brownsville-based G&T Paving for $1.2 million to build a parking lot.
“They’re going to be exactly the same as the tennis courts at the other middle schools,” Villalpando said.
Earlier this year, the project hit a big snag.
In February, board members were stunned when Hellas officials gave them a $162,000 change order to over-excavate the project site to a depth of three feet as part of a plan to add back-fill.
After entering into negotiations with the company, the board agreed to pay about half the cost, Cruz said.
Courts to help team grow
Now, the project’s set to be completed by the start of the new school year in August, Cruz said.
Despite years of traveling away from home to practice and play, the school’s tennis team’s grown to about 30 players, Villalpando said.
“It’s a young team,” he said. “The program is going to grow. Having the tennis courts will be a big help.”
