As a tennis player, having access to lit courts is sometimes the only way to find time to play. For those of us that aren’t professional players, work consumes most of our daylight hours–leaving little time for playing tennis. Lighting for tennis courts must follow a certain standard to truly be effective. Playing on poorly lit courts can be frustrating because it leads to mishits and constantly straining to see the ball. When considering implementation of a new tennis court lighting system it is prudent to consult the standards developed by the professional tour.
Prepare a Design
The design that you choose depends entirely on the court set-up that you need to provide lighting for. Is it a single court or many different courts? Consider sharing lighting between courts next to each other for more cost effective solutions. Standard lighting design is to use either four or six lighting poles on each side. Poles will secured to the ground with flood lights attached atop them. Before starting anything you should have a clear idea of where the poles will be placed and how you will secure them to the ground. Draw up a plan and consult a construction professional for further tips.
When creating your design you’ll want to minimize the cost as much as possible. Sharing lights between two courts is a smart strategy, but you need to be aware of a couple things. The courts must be close enough together that neither court will suffer a loss of lighting. In trying to save money it’s easy to sacrifice the quality and amount of light that the court gets. The other concern is to be careful of the load you place on the pole. If the material used to mount the lights is weak or not solid, placing two sets of lights on the pole could be dangerous.
Depending on the intensity of the lights you decide to purchase, you’ll need to consider how much power you need. Checking the specifications of the lights under consideration is a great start. Verify that your facility can support the power consumption needs. The second step is to consider how the lights will actually get the power. The standard procedure is to run wires underground from the source location to the poles. Most often this is the best choice, but a professional electrician must be consulted for safety purposes.
Lighting for Tournament Play
If the lighting system is to be used for professional tournament play, then it should strictly follow the set of standards from the ATP. The most difficult part when satisfying these requirements is getting adequate uniform illumination. Testing for this involves a number of measurements around the court. These measurements are then compared and must fall into a range that is close enough together. This insures that there are no dark spots in important areas of the court.