Expanded Tennis Court Construction through Multi Use Gaming Areas

Multi Use Gaming Areas, or MUGAs, have become increasingly popular with schools, council sports facilities and public sports clubs alike thanks to their versatile application and their ability to be used in future as a base for an Astroturf pitch. As a tennis court construction option, the MUGA offers the advantages of all year round playability and an easy to maintain surface – plus pitches for other sports that tend to be played outside the tennis season.

Traditionally the British tennis season occupies the late spring and summer months – while the British football season, for example, takes place during the autumn and winter months. That’s an ideal crossover for anyone considering having a tennis court built for public use. If it is constructed as a MUGA it can be used primarily for tennis during the season and then hired out, or used (dependent on the premises in question) as a football pitch, netball pitch or hockey pitch when tennis is not in season.

Tennis court construction using the MUGA method can be finished in any number of hard wearing surfaces. The multiple applications of the MUGA to some extent dictate the surface in which the court is finished – if a sports club or school is planning to use the MUGA for a maximum number of other sports it may be finished in a rubberised top that prevents injury; while if the purpose of the court is to be primarily tennis and netball, it can be topped with a harder form of macadam.

When choosing a surface for your tennis court construction be sure to consider the major intended end users of the installation. Contact sports are difficult to play on a hard macadam surface but non contact ball sports, tennis in particular, can demand a hard surface for the correct response of the ball. The best choice for your end surface is the one that meets the most needs of the biggest number of sports that are to be played on your MUGA.

Consider the boundaries of your MUGA when you book the installation. A variety of fencing options are available, all suited to multiple sports being played on the same surface. The height of the fences and the material they are made from will be determined by things like your tennis court construction’s proximity to open roads and the amount of other gaming areas around it.

Don’t forget to consider lighting options too. Many public sports installations profit from allowing members to play during evening hours, which are of course dark during the winter. Where the majority of your users or members are working people, who tend to use your facility at weekends and in the evenings during the week, installing floodlights to allow for play throughout the evening hours would be a sensible investment.

Using a MUGA as an alternative to a straight tennis court construction makes a lot of sense in terms of money too. Not only will you earn more from being able to hire your space out year round for a variety of sporting uses – you also pay very little more for the construction of a MUGA than you would for a single use space.