Following the groundbreaking this past month on a new tennis facility at the Saratoga Regional YMCA’s Wilton branch, the YMCA and Skidmore College have announced a partnership that provides a significant infusion of funding for the project while providing additional court time for the College’s men’s and women’s tennis teams.
As part of the agreement, Skidmore will make a $1 million payment toward construction of the new facility, bringing the total number of courts to eight. In return, Skidmore’s tennis teams will receive an expanded block of practice time in the fall when they compete in regional collegiate tournaments and in the spring when they play a dozen Liberty League matches and compete for the Liberty League and NCAA championships. The agreement will extend for ten years.
With construction well under way, the new courts are expected to be completed later this month or in early December.
“This partnership is a big win for the Saratoga community, the YMCA, and Skidmore tennis,” said Jim Letts, chief executive officer of the Saratoga Regional YMCA. “We’ve been planning this for some time, but the College’s participation has enabled us to really accelerate it.”
Skidmore will continue to explore ways in which it might construct its own indoor courts at some point in the future, said Philip A. Glotzbach, Skidmore president. “This is a great interim solution, and we’re delighted to be partnering with The Y in this way.”
Skidmore’s men’s and women’s teams both won their respective Liberty League championships last spring. The men’s team has won the league championship six times in the last 10 years and has gone to four straight NCAA Division III tournaments. The women’s team has gone to five straight NCAA Division III tournaments and 15 overall. The team won the NCAA Division III championship in 1998.
Adirondack Tennis 