Giant bubble envelopes tennis court for winter months

As winter nears, a bubble stands ready to protect VCU’s men’s and women’s tennis teams from the weather’s cold, wet elements. The temporary air structure secured over the tennis courts during the winter months creates a warm, dry environment for practicing and matches as well as for general student use.

“It’s not the most beautiful place in the world, but we like it,” said Paul Kostin, head coach of the men’s and women’s tennis teams. “I get all these nationally ranked teams to come here. They’re the ones who have the beautiful big indoor facilities, but they don’t complain.”

The teams play around 20 matches during the spring and practice under the bubble beginning in November. The center is open for student use daily after 6:00 p.m.

In 1991, a donation from the Thalhimer family allowed VCU to build the new six-court Harry and Charles Thalhimer Tennis Center across from the Cary Street Gym. Kostin, a former professional tennis player and coach at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, joined the university to lead the men’s program. With space at a premium, the university decided to build an outdoor court equipped with an air structure so the teams could play year-round.

The bubble, or envelope, measures 120 feet wide and 300 feet long and is made of high-tensile strength PVC fabric. It stays inflated by air pressure, said Rick Nelson, a service technician with Fabtron Industries of Buffalo, N.Y.

“It’s volume of air, it’s all air supported,” Nelson said. “There’s a blower system. And the blowers are all automatic. They run and they maintain a certain pressure.”

The system incorporates backup blowers and a backup generator so the bubble won’t deflate during a power outage.

Nelson, who has over 30 years of experience with air structures, installed VCU’s bubble in 1992 and has maintained it ever since. The bubble is installed in October or November according to the teams’ schedules.

“We try to follow weather patterns and whatever our tennis teams need at that time,” said Tim Lampe, assistant athletic director and director of athletic facilities and operations. “Taking it down is even easier. I think we’ve hit spring break every year since I’ve been here.”

Because the airtight structure is bolted to the court, the clubhouse and several doors and retained by cables, wear and tear on the PVC envelope means it needs inspection and repairs during installation and takedown. Despite the low initial costs relative to a fixed building, maintenance adds up.

“The bubble is probably the biggest issue over at the tennis center,” Lampe said. “It’s a very costly piece of equipment, costly to maintain. It costs a lot to put the thing up and put it down. It costs a lot less to put up an air structure than it would to build an actual building. The downside, over time, you start spending a lot of money maintaining these bubbles, and it would be cheaper to have a fixed building.”

Kostin said the bubble works very well for the teams, but is less than ideal for fans.

“For the spectators, it’s very hard to watch,” Kostin said. “We have a limited (number) who can watch. It makes it a bit hard to see the courts because you’re sitting on one of the courts looking down.”

The teams play on five courts with the sixth reserved for spectators.

Lampe said that heavy snow can deflate the bubble.

“Any snow that hits the top of the bubble or the sides will melt off and it slides down the base,” he said. “We’ve spent many nights over there digging out. Two inches of snow is probably six feet of snow around the base. It could collapse the thing. Even a little bit of snow keeps me up worrying about a collapse.”

The bubble collapsed during a heavy snowstorm in January 1996. Since it needed major repairs, some games had to be rescheduled or cancelled, shortening the team’s season to 20 matches – 15 of which they won.

“I remember we bounced back pretty good,” Kostin recalled of that spring season.

“We still got to the NCAA (tournament). I know we won the conference. We’ve been in the conference 10 years, and last year was the first time I lost in the finals. We still ended up good. It wasn’t devastating,” Kostin said.

Kostin’s men’s team compiled a 310-71 overall record in 14 years, including a 174-12 record at the Thalhimer Tennis Center. The women stand at 61-12 in four years.

But the bubble won’t remain forever. The VCU 2020 Master Site Plan shows the tennis center’s land earmarked for the Life Sciences II building.

Brian Ohlinger, vice president for facilities and operations, said the replacement of the tennis center, however, isn’t urgent.

That’s not on the immediate horizon at all,” he said. “I would say that’s at least 10 to 12 years away.”