The Battle at Bunker Hill
Earlier this summer we became aware of the efforts of two young boys to rehabilitate their hometown tennis courts in Bunker Hill, Illinois. Bunker Hill is a small community consisting of 1774 people that was founded in 1837. It is located only 40 miles from St. Louis and 20 miles from the tennis hotbeds of Alton and Edwardsville.
Through the efforts of these two young men, Will and Ethan, who were motivated by poor conditions of the tennis and basketball courts at this park a grass roots movement has taken hold in this community. They have been at it for three years and so far have raised a total sum of about $11,000 to be used to restore these courts to usable condition.
This summer they were having a fundraiser and we decided that we should attend and while in town we played a match on the courts. Due to Stan Angelov’s busy weekend schedule of representing buyers and sellers of homes we arrived a little later than planned. Since we were short on time we decided to limit our match to a 15 point tiebreaker.
The courts are located next to Bunker Hill High School and a field that had a nice family of sheep. The profession of playing on Forgotten Courts is dangerous and as we stepped on this court Scott said, “Be careful you do not twist an ankle”. The courts are full of wide cracks which have lots of thick grass growing up through them which could impede lateral motion.
The good news is the courts had nets and although they were set a little high they appeared to be playable despite the aforementioned grass. A quick warm up completed under the watchful eye of the sheep and we got down to business.
Scott won the toss and elected to have Stan start . A great decision as Stan promptly double faulted due to the high net. Scott won the next point for a 2-0 lead. Stan started hitting deep and down the middle to bring it back to 4-4. On the next point court condition came into play as one of Stan’s serves hit the crack and skidded low under Scott’s racket.
The match became a real battle back and forth with both players hitting some great backhands. Scott hit a short ball on one to an open patch of court and Stan stepped up and drilled it down the line for a winner. On another point Stan came to the net and hit a short volley and Scott stepped in and hit a short, sharp angled topspin winner off the backhand side.
Eventually the score worked its way to 13-12 in Stan’s favor and then Kaboom Stan hit another crack with a serve and the ball this time jumped up high over Scott’s head. 14-12 Stan. Then Scott went for a hard cross court forehand and shanked it wide to give Stan the victory. But…… Stan was having such a good time he wanted to extend the tiebreaker to 21 and give Scott a chance.
So it was agreed to continue to 21 pts. Scott won the next point on a hard down the line shot to Stan’s backhand and then on the next point ripped a sharp angled cross court shot that looked like a sure winner….. at this point the adrenaline was flowing and the speedy Bulgarian dashed across the court and slid into what looked to be a down the line forehand winner and just as he was about to hit the shot his shoe caught the grass and folded his ankle under.
Stan down! Stan down! In over 55 Forgotten Courts matches we have never had an injury but this one was pretty serious. Stan’s ankle immediately began to swell and walking was difficult. We gathered up our stuff and retreated to the cars to discuss proper treatment of a sprained ankle. After a few minutes we decided Stan should head home to begin treatment of the ankle injury. After all of this Scott headed over to the fundraiser hosted by The Bunker Hill American Legion This was a true grass roots event involving the entire community. Ethan and Will welcomed guests into a large hall where there was a silent auction and volunteers served hot dogs and sloppy joes. One of the silent auction items was some Cardinals tickets sponsored by our friends at McConnell and Associates.
To Scott’s surprise a 9 piece volunteer band took the stage and played some great tunes for the large group of guests. The event was a smashing success and raised $4,562 for the court repair efforts. If you are reading this and want to help the Bunker Hill Tennis Court effort you can do that by sending a donation payable to :
Bunker Hill Tennis Court Project
c/o Will Manar
4 Heritage Lane
Bunker Hill, Illinois 62014
Court location is a 10 and condition only a 3 for a rating of 6.5. Play these courts in their current condition with extreme caution or you could end up like Stan. Speaking of Stan’s ankle, he solicited much advice on proper treatment and received the standard RICE, Arnica and even wrapping the ankle in cabbage. Ultimately RICE, Arnica and some treatment by Dr. Laurie at Mestdagh Chiropractic was employed. We hope to have him back on a Forgotten Court in no time…….
