Winning Team, Lousy Courts

Haldane tennis lobbies for better facilities
For the Haldane girls' tennis team, which won a league title this past fall, the biggest challenge may not be its competition but its home courts.
The Blue Devils are spending the winter lobbying the district to rebuild its two courts and add a third. The hope is that they will no longer have to play most matches away, and players won't have to practice on the soccer field.
The courts have cracks and sagging nets. On one, a dip near a baseline pools water and collects muck. While the courts have been resurfaced, they may have to be rebuilt.

The Haldane district's master plan, adopted in October 2023, included four courts along Route 9D. But a $28.4 million capital project approved by voters in November 2024 didn't include any money for them.
In Beacon, voters in May 2024 approved a $50 million capital improvement project that includes funds to resurface the high school tennis courts this summer. (Unlike Haldane, Beacon has both girls' and boys' tennis teams.)
Tom Cunningham, the Haldane athletic director, said the courts are a priority for the upcoming budget; the project could cost $100,000 or more. He said the district is exploring other funding, such as grants from the U.S. Tennis Association.
"The courts are unsafe," said Alex Dubroff, whose daughter, Ellie, was the team's co-captain. Dubroff, who played tennis at Stony Brook University, was speaking at the Jan. 6 school board meeting. Ellie and co-captain Ella Sizemore also attended, as did other team parents.
While Coach Simon Dudar said he doesn't think the courts are dangerous, he noted that, about 15 years ago, when the surface was even worse, "I did have a girl trip on a crack and break her ankle."

The more immediate problem, he said, is that "a lot of schools don't want to come to us" since, with only two courts, there is a chance they won't finish the five matches before dark, and there is no opportunity for exhibition matches for less experienced players.
Haldane's home matches don't comply with match-play rules of two out of three sets. To save time, they play abbreviated, eight-game "pro sets," Dudar said. Most matches start at 4:30 p.m., so they can be completed before the sun sets about two hours later.
Dudar said he often contacts opposing coaches, offering to play Haldane's home matches at their facilities "because we can get more girls playing." Last fall, the Blue Devils played only three of 13 matches at home.
He said three courts would help with practice, so that none of the 17 players are standing around. Nomie Karetny, a freshman, said that she once practiced hitting balls with a teammate on the soccer field while the girls' soccer team practiced nearby.

Dudar said that a third court would also allow for better practice for experienced players such as Dubroff, who hopes to play in college. "Ellie is a strong player, and she's not getting a ton of reps in practice," he said.
He noted that Dubroff's recruitment efforts helped salvage the team. "We didn't know if we were going to have a team," he said. "She recruited a lot of her friends." Ellie said her longtime tennis buddy, Scout Thakur De Beer, also deserves credit. "I love this team," Dubroff said. "It's helped me in so many ways."
Last year, the team raised over $10,000 through bake sales, a pickleball fundraiser and a Snap Raise campaign to help pay for lights installed last summer over one court.
Local players can use a QR code on the court's front gate to donate to the Booster Club. In addition, several parents have launched the Philipstown Community Tennis Association (philipstowntennis.org). "This community plays tennis, and there are two courts that are in really dire condition," said Katie MacInnes, a team mom.