Issue date: 10/17/09 Section: Sports

Tennis anyone?

Not at Southwestern College.

Budget cuts are being blamed for the shut down of SWC's men's and women's tennis teams, the first college program of any type to be completely eliminated. Both men's and women's tennis coaches told their players the season was off last summer. It is still unknown whether tennis will be back as a sport in 2011.

Women's tennis coach Susan Reasons said she was willing to take a pay cut and her players could have had a bare-bones season for approximately $16,000 and bag of new tennis balls. Terry Davis, dean for the School of Health, Exercise Science & Athletics, said no. Davis said the reality of the state deficit has impacted the college greatly and left him with tough decisions for his school.

"As administrators you deal with facts," he said. "You don't deal with fiction…We just tried to be as fair as possible. That's all you can do."

Davis said his decision to cut the tennis came down to two criteria, which sport cut impacted the least number of student athletes and which sport would be easy to bring back. Each tennis team has 10 players.

Davis said he had once restarted a 50-person track and field team and it had required the purchase of large amounts of equipment and intense recruiting.

"I learned from that experience," said Davis. "If you are going to cut a sport, cut a sport that is easy to bring back. A sport that you can bring back in one day. To bring back tennis, our athletes need a uniform and a tennis racket, and they usually have their own tennis rackets."

SWC's women's tennis team has consistently been competitive in conference, according Reasons, including a 2001 co-championship. Several of her players have made All-Conference and transferred to university programs. At least one player has been sent to Southern California regionals every year since 2001.

The men's team is made up exclusively of local talent yet managed to stay competitive against colleges that recruit international players, according to coach Bill Foley. The men placed second in conference in 2007. SWC has been a major hub for tennis in Chula Vista since the 1970s, said Foley, and is also home to the SWC Community Tennis Center. Foley acknowledged that the college is under a tremendous financial burden and that he did not know the intricate details of the college's finances. But, he said, he did know his team intimately and wished he could have spoken with administration before his team was cut. He said he could have given the college some alternative options.

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