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Goddard Tennis Club Facility last edited on 23 September 2014

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tennis shoes GODDARD TENNIS COURTS

The Goddard Tennis Club's members pay dues and donate their time and effort to build and maintain the facilities.
GEWA facilities are NOT government supplied, but come out of membership dues, vending machine fees, and volunteer construction.

Since 1966, the club members have constructed:

hartru courts
Eight Har-Tru courts
hard courts
Two lighted hard courts, with practice wall
picnic
A courtside socialization area

player icon PROCEDURES

Playing season on the Har-Tru clay courts is limited to April-October by the frost-freeze cycle. The hard courts #9 and #10 are open all year. All courts are used on a first-come basis, but with a 1.0 hour limit if people are waiting.

The courts are policed occasionally by the club members, who can ask non-members to leave or be escorted off the courts by GSFC security (dial 301-286-8661 from any cellular telephone).

Hard court #9 has an electrical outlet that can be used to power the ball machine, which may be used for solo practice whenever two members are not waiting to play. Hard court #10 has a practice wall, which may be used for solo practice whenever two members are not waiting to play.

player BALL MACHINE

The Club has a small Tennis Tutor ProLite Plus AC ball machine purchased in 2014, replacing a broken Prolite purchased in 2005, which replaced a worn-out Prince machine purchased in 1990. It can be used for practice on court 9, a hard court where there are electrical outlets.

The machine throws balls at the speed of a ground stroke, and can be adjusted for speed, height, topspin, and a side-to-side oscillating motion. It holds about 60 balls. The Club supplies a bucket of long-lived pressureless practice balls. You can buy your own bucket from mail-order suppliers like Holabird Sports in Baltimore.
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When invoking topspin, turn up the ball speed knob to get sufficient depth.

The Club's ball machine is stored in a locked shed just outside court 9. Access to the machine (a key to the lock) can be purchased from the Club as a annual membership option. It is a good idea to have somebody show you how to use the machine, the first time.

teaching backhand GTC HISTORY

PDF icon In 1991, a brief 25-year history of the founding of the Goddard Tennis Club was presented by the court architect and first president, Bob Davis.
(We only have a copy of his typed notes scanned into a PDF file.) PDF icon

You can find Bob Davis on-line (as of March 2012) at http://www.bobdavis.usptapro.com/

under construction GTC MAINTENANCE NOTES ...another page-->

hazmat ball Emergency cut-offs (click for miniposter)

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The Goddard Tennis Club (GTC) is a member of the Goddard Employees Welfare Association (GEWA), a collection of mutual-interest clubs and services run by the workers at NASA-GSFC.