By: Aly West

Currently the men’s and women’s tennis teams are required to pay KTC Quail in order to practice on courts. “It would be nice to be able to practice at school rather than waste all this money on practices,” Venus Aggarwal, a senior at Bellbrook High School, said. 

Aggarwal has taken part in the women’s high school tennis team for four years. She has been playing tennis since she was in 7th grade at KTC Quail with her old school, Miami Valley Academy.

“Tennis at Bellbrook was the first place I got to meet new people and make friends,” Aggarwal said. “I have been wanting to build tennis courts at our school for a while and after I found out the pickleball courts were being built, I decided to finally take initiative.”

Aggarwal aims to build five tennis courts near the lacrosse fields to enhance playing time amongst players rather than continue using four courts at KTC Quail.

“It would take at least five hours for the JV and Varsity to finish,” Chloe Hangen, a sophomore on the girls tennis team, said. “The courts were in really poor condition and KTC Quail didn’t want to redo them because the season’s not long enough.” 

In addition, plans are being made to include an outdoor shed to store tennis equipment, a fence, and potentially bleachers.

“We’ve established the blueprint, plans approved by the school, and now we are currently just waiting on approval from the U.S. Tennis Association,” Aggarwal said. “So, there’s not really much we can do right now.”

The main component to the project was sourcing the funding for the courts. Aggarwal used her previous connections from her campaign with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society to help gain sponsorships. 

“We need $300,000 to fund the five courts. The Bellbrook Lions Club, Bellbrook Athletic Boosters, as well as the U.S. Tennis Association has been able to help support that cost,” Aggarwal said. “The Athletic Boosters and Lions club has given us each $25,000 and we have to find a match to receive the $150,000 from the U.S. Tennis Association.”

Aggarwal has been working with Barry Tiffany, a trustee for the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. O’Dell, the athletic director at Bellbrook High School, and Bill Stuck, a member of the Athletic Boosters.

“We are hoping for it to be done by the boys’ tennis season, but it really depends on when we are able to receive the funding and get through construction,” Aggarwal said. “Especially once the winter season comes, we will be interrupted.”

“I think having home courts will be really helpful and hopefully more people will come to watch us, since nobody actually really knows where the tennis team plays,” Hangen said.

“Most other schools have their own courts, so it will be great for Bellbrook to finally get some and it couldn’t have come at a better time for my senior year,” Jonah Grismer, a senior on the men’s tennis team, said. “It will also be nice because we can use them outside of the tennis season.”

“Once this does come to life, I think it will be really exciting,” Aggarwal said. “Every single person I’ve talked to about it seems really excited and it will be nice to see the boys tennis team be the first to use it.”