This fall, Middlebury will add a new outdoor tennis facility along with throwing areas for the track and field teams to its athletics facilities. The new construction is planned to be completed in late September and will feature 12 new tennis courts on the corner of South Street and Porter Field Road, as well as enhanced areas for shot put, javelin, discus and hammer throw.
The additional tennis courts will support more productive practices and matches while increasing opportunities for other students to play, according to men’s tennis Head Coach Andrew Thomson ’10.
“Our club tennis team is quite popular, and many students, staff, and faculty enjoy playing on our courts too,” he wrote.
Co-captain of the women’s tennis team Claudia Miller ’25 expressed her excitement for the updates and shared that the courts arrived just in time, as both tennis teams have continued to grow in numbers this year.
“We are all really excited about the new tennis courts, and I think this new facility has a lot of potential to really benefit our program,” Miller wrote in an email to The Campus. “The courts are not ready yet, but it looks like they are making great progress, and all of us are hopeful that they will be done for our Middlebury Invitational which takes place in early October and closes out the fall tennis season for the women's team.”
Considerations of moving the tennis courts away from their current place next to Proctor Dining Hall began almost 20 years ago when a campus master plan indicated that space would be the preferred location of a student center, according to Director of Athletics Erin Quinn ’86. The college hopes the expanded student center will create a new hub of campus life with a 1,200 capacity dining hall and consolidated student services, according to The Campus’ previous reporting.
The decision-making process also involved members of Facilities Services, tennis coaches, the Athletic Communications Department, Assistant Director of Athletics for Operations and Events Franklin Dean-Farrar and Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration David Provost, according to Quinn.
“In recent years, the discussions were renewed because the Proctor… courts were in need of renovations, and it did not seem prudent to put a lot of work into those courts if they would eventually be dismantled for a student center,” Quinn wrote.
As the college’s tennis teams continue to thrive in the NCAA National Championships and NESCAC conference, Thomson has high hopes for the upcoming training season within the new facilities.
“Both men's and women's tennis have been a force on the national stage across the past two decades of play in NCAA DIII tennis,” he wrote. “We believe our new facility will help us continue to attract top players to our programs, and with more courts increase our capacity to host championship level events.”
Thomson told The Campus added that the new courts will also provide better viewing for spectators.
“Another bonus of our new facility is that the new court layout will allow for ideal spectating of the college dual match format where six singles can be played across one row, with a break in the middle for viewing. Additionally, 12 courts allow for a men's and women's dual match to occur concurrently which might add to the excitement,” he wrote.
The master plan mentioned by Quinn had also called to move the preexisting throwing fields to a different location in order to make space for the 12 new tennis courts. Despite some initial concern, the new fields are an improvement over the previous athletic facilities, according to Martin Beatty ’84, head track and field coach.
“We weren’t sure at first, but we actually love the design,” Beatty wrote in an email to The Campus. “We like how it’s played out, and it’ll actually work better than the previous field.”
Beatty said that the new fields will not only be more spectator-friendly, but also safer and more efficient during practice.
The new construction divides hammer and discus into separate spaces with bigger safety cages. The shot putters now have an additional ring, and javelin throwers can practice on an extra runway.
“It’s better. It’s a hundred percent better than what we had before,” Beatty wrote.
Reilly Isler ’25, co-captain of the women’s track and field team, agreed with his assessment of the updated area.
“Everyone is super excited about the new facilities and I definitely think that they will be beneficial for training, specifically having two shot put rings instead of one,” Isler wrote in an email to The Campus. “Our team has continued to get bigger over the years which means that we have more and more throwers every year so the extra space is very appreciated.”
As the fall sports season begins this week, athletes and their coaches have an expanded set of facilities to match the growing teams at Middlebury.
“Middlebury Tennis is thrilled to enter an exciting new chapter with our new 12-court outdoor tennis facility, and we are incredibly appreciative of all the support we receive from the college.” Thomson wrote.
