TIPS

In order to optimize the work of maintaining a sports center, or an individual court, it is essential to plan interventions.

Planning what needs to be done to keep a clay court in good condition greatly helps facilities management over time. It allows operators to be efficient, not to miss key activities, and to carry out maintenance work at times that do not prevent users from using the courts.

In addition, turning interventions into habits will help save effort, time, and money. So organizing activities is the first step to working well today to benefit tomorrow.

BEFORE MAINTENANCE

Before proceeding with the actual maintenance of the clay court, it is essential to clean the playing surface. During the winter period, in fact, dry leaves, excess soil, pebbles and moss and weeds grow on red clay courts. To find out how to deal with this first step in the right way click here.

Red Earth

The mantle is a key element for players by allowing them to “glide” in a controlled manner. Keeping the playing surface in perfect condition is essential for good play.

Often, light maintenance involving the addition of new turf is sufficient to make the playing surface perform well. This type of intervention is substantial for indoor courts, in fact in pressostatic facilities it is easy to come across cemented areas of the court.

Conversely, if the surface is not compacted enough after maintenance there is a risk that it will “flake off,” the same happens if it is not wet enough and consistently. In these cases more care should be taken when wetting the court. In the most critical areas, more hydration may not be enough, but it will be necessary to mill the area and add new turf.

ROWS

There are two types of stripes, traditional nail stripes and German stripes. In both cases, keeping them clean reduces wear and tear and makes the court look neater and better maintained.

During court maintenance, there are two options with nailed lines-“tear them out” or bypass them by performing zoned maintenance. Tearing them out means replacing them, as well as more time-consuming work due to the rows breaking and the nails remaining planted in the ground. Performing zoned maintenance is also more time-consuming, as well as not recommended for deep, annual maintenance.

For this, and other reasons, we prefer German stripes. They can be removed, cleaned, and reassembled at every maintenance.

WATER

Getting the playing court wet during maintenance is a critical step in doing a good job. It is equally important to wet clay courts, both outdoor and indoor, on a regular basis. It is best to wet them daily with the right amount of water. Maintaining the right soil moisture allows the courts to maintain a certain elasticity necessary for play as well as necessary to reduce wear and tear damage.

Similarly, one must be careful about over-watering and too much rain. Both situations make the court impassable, creating pools of water and making the surface silty. You have to wait for it to dry out by losing excess moisture before you can resume play.

SALT

Using salt as a treatment on an overly wet playing court can be a good solution. It will eliminate water stagnation without compromising the surface.

In the absence of salt, the addition of a little soil may be sufficient to treat waterlogging.

SUNshine

Like water, sunshine is also an excellent ally for Sports Centers. A well-exposed clay court, without major areas of shade, makes the court playable even in winter, if the season permits. It helps dry out the turf when needed and makes some of the steps during maintenance work quicker.

Be careful to wet the court sufficiently, however, to prevent the surface from being too dry and dusty.

CREPE

As we have seen, weathering can solve or create problems in the care of our clay tennis courts.

Too much sun drying or too much cold freezing create the tense consequences on a clay tennis court: they create cracks on the surface, splitting it.

This is a phenomenon that mainly affects the perimeter areas of the court, because they are less trampled than the rest of the playing surface, or the outdoor courts that have not been played on for an entire season, usually the winter season.

Good deep regeneration will solve any problems.

PRESSOSTATIC

Deciding whether to install a pressostatic structure or a tensile structure to make tennis courts usable even in the winter season is not an easy choice.

The first factor to take into consideration is the context in which the sports club is located. If the climate is on average very cold, very hot or very rainy, the best solution will be a fixed structure that makes the courts usable all year round. If, on the other hand, the climate is milder, the choice will fall on the installation of a pressostatic ball; to cover the tennis court during the inverse and to uncover it during the summer season.

Another factor, no less important, is economic. Whether it is a pressostatic structure or a tensile structure we are talking about a long-term investment.

Every sports center is different and has different needs. And it is these, taken as a whole, that can help in the decision.

CEMENTIFICATION

Cementing is a very common phenomenon on indoor clay courts. The internal conditions of preposts often cause certain areas of the turf to harden, making it very hard, like concrete in fact. One way to prevent and delay the effects of this phenomenon is to add a bit of turf, going to create a protective layer for the surface.

A cemented court is very difficult to break down. In the most extreme cases, it is necessary to intervene on the court before using a professional milling machine, which, by itself, may not be sufficient. In these cases, the rule is to wet the court thoroughly in the days before the intervention to soften the surface.

KEEPING EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

In addition to the tennis court, materials and tools must also be stored properly:

• Red earth bags. If they are stored poorly or opened they become ideal habitat for moss and grass. It will be necessary to clean the soil before using it, but it will not lose its technical characteristics.
• Tools. They suffer from moisture, especially wooden and iron parts. They should be kept clean and dry, away from damp soil.
• The machinery, the roller and the arcut 2.0. Like the tools, they should be kept clean and away from moisture to keep them in good condition and performing over time.