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Updated racquetball courts were originally planned for Calvin’s new Spoelhof Fieldhouse but lack of funding has forced project planners to cut them from the new facility.

When the new Spoelhof Fieldhouse opens on campus next fall, one thing that students won’t see is new racquetball courts.

While new racquetball courts were originally part of the plan for the fieldhouse renovations, they were recently cut out due to a budget deficit of about $10 million.

This has many student racquetball players concerned, especially those who participate in the racquetball club, which meets every Friday at the Orchard Hills Sports Club.

“Although they were cut from the plans, we will be keeping the current racquetball court,” says HPERDS professor Glen Van Andel, co-chair of the Fieldhouse renovation planning committee.

A problem that many racquetball players have with the current court, however, is that it is not regulation size.

“The lack of facilities for racquetball at Calvin is pretty disappointing,” says sophomore Steven Howard, who plays racquetball every week with the club. “Sure, there is some sort of court at Calvin, but considering the shape it’s in and the problems with its size, anyone seriously considering getting involved with racquetball stays away from that.”

The planning committee has numerous reasons for cutting the racquetball courts from the plan.

“The main reason is that the relative cost of a court is very high,” said Van Andel. According to estimates given to the committee, it costs approximately $100,000 to build one racquetball court. “In order for us [the HPERDS department] to teach classes, we’d need at least four to six courts to be functional, which is a very high cost for what we perceive as a relatively small number of users.”

English professor Dale Brown, who sponsors the racquetball club with professor Jennifer Holberg, also of the English department, sees things differently. “I’d like them to get another quote,” he says, adding that he knows of other facilities built for less. Brown, who is a certified racquetball professional with a 20-year career, also teaches junior players at three sports clubs in Grand Rapids.Another reason the courts were cut from the plans is that some experts consider racquetball to be declining in popularity.

“Our sports consultants and architects, RDG of Des Moines, Iowa, and GMB of Holland, Mich., have told us that racquetball as a sport is in decline and fewer and fewer colleges and universities are putting courts into these kinds of facilities,” said Van Andel.

He added that this is also the experience of the number of research teams Calvin sent to visit over 30 different facilities. “Many of the facilities are retrofitting their racquetball courts into rock climbing rooms, dance studios and other rooms that serve differ “To anyone who says that racquetball is an ‘old man’s sport,’ I say that’s false,” said Brown. “There are a lot of younger people playing the game. Racquetball is growing. And ironically it’s growing on college campuses.”

He credits this to the versatility of the sport, since it can be played by people of all age, ability and fitness levels.

Brown also considers the arrangement with Orchard Hills to be short-sighted. Students have to pay a $50 membership fee and provide their own transportation to the club.

“I would like to see how many students would actually participate if there were facilities available for free on campus,” he said, noting that there are anywhere from 10-30 students in the club, but he usually receives around 50 e-mails from students who are interested at the beginning of the year.

Students involved with the club see the same conflict. “I don’t use the court in the fieldhouse because I have a membership at Orchard Hills,” said senior Erica Boonstra.

“It’d be nice if Calvin could have a court or two,” said Howard. “That way more students would be inclined to play and wouldn’t have to drive to a club and pay a membership to play.”

The plans for the new fieldhouse are permanent, but there is still a chance that there will be new racquetball courts added in the future.

“If there comes a time when we receive more money for the fieldhouse, the college is definitely not adverse to adding new racquetball courts,” said Van Andel. “For a community this size, however, it’s just not viable at this time.”