This Week
What To Decide?
Racquetball and squash players continue to push their case for saving the courts at the JCC.
SHARON LUCKERMAN
Staff Writer
*IN
6/7
2002
20
ith all their courts slated for demoli-
tion this summer, the West
Bloomfield Jewish Community
Center's squash and racquetball play-
ers are not giving up without a fight.
Lisa Woerdeman, 41, a racquetball player from
West Bloomfield, said more than 40 players picket-
ed outside the facility Saturday and Sunday, hold-
ing signs that said: "Save the Courts."
As the JCC goes into the final phase of its $33
million renovation and endowment, the JCC board
has approved plans for a new health and fitness
wing following a two-year process. Construction is
set to begin later this summer. To create the
planned modern open area, the center will elimi-
nate all 16 courts: racquetball, handball, squash,
double squash. Rebuilding courts elsewhere at the
JCC would cost an additional $4 million, said JCC
Executive Director David Sorkin.
The courts take up space that will be used to create a
fiscally competitive health club and fitness wing, a
project initiated as a result of the Center's financial cri-
sis in 1996. The JCC is counting on the $7 million
renovation to make it more competitive in the health
and fitness market. The JCC's health club membership
has dropped from 1,800 to 1,500 the last two years.
Woerdeman and 200 other racquetball/squash
players are upset that the Center didn't consult with
them "as soon as they started dickering about the
courts two years ago," she said.
The players learned of the plan to completely elimi-
nate the 24,000 square feet of courts just two weeks
ago. "Our only worry before this was how many
courts we would have with the renovations. We never
expected that all of them would be gone," Woerdeman
,
said. "The JCC didn't give us time to react.'
Sorkin said he has the concerns of 10,000 JCC
members and the entire Jewish community to con-
sider. "We try to serve blocks of people in the com-
munity," he said. "We've tried over the past couple
years to include the courts. We thought we'd have
some wiggle room."
Woerdeman, an attorney-mediator, homemaker
and mother of three, said the Center is not only a
place to play racquetball. It became a refuge for her
during a difficult time in her life. She started play-
ing racquetball again three years ago, while her
youngest son attended the JCC nursery school.
"I simply showed up and before long the men had
accepted me into their community. Playing with
them helped me physically, spiritually and emotion-
ally — just what the JCC is all about," she said.
Eventually, Woerdeman and all three of her chil-
dren, ages 14, 10 and 6, took up racquetball and
swimming. "That's what the Center's for," she said.
It's that and more, responds Hannan Lis of
The racquetball-playing Woerdeman family hopes the JCC will reconsider eliminating the racquetball and squash
courts. They are Danielle, 14; mom Lisa; Matthew, 10; an d, at bottom, Joshua, 6
Farmington Hills, a JCC vice president. "The JCC
has other responsibilities it must balance with the
needs of the racquetball/squash players," he said.
Among them, he said, the West Bloomfield JCC has
to make up the $400,000 annual shortfall in the oper-
ation of the Oak Park JCC building, cover $150,000
in summer camp scholarships and spend $250,000 for
serving adults and children with special needs.
"In a nutshell, the Center takes care of many
populations in need — non-moneymakers. To pro-
vide cultural, educational and other opportunities
for every Jew in the area, the health and fitness
wing — [projected to be the JCC's biggest money-
maker] — must be completed soon," Lis said.
King Solomon's Solution?
It may take a King Solomon to work through the
multiple perspectives and factors of the controversy.
Is it the story of David and Goliath — balancing a
small, but loyal group of JCC members up to age
87 against the larger youth market, with its poten-
tial for generating larger profit? Or is it about a self-
interested group that should give up its 20-30 years
of racquetball activity and camaraderie for the good
of the larger community?
Aware of the board's fiduciary responsibilities to
the community, Lis said the JCC would continue
losing money unless its health and fitness wing is
renovated. The JCC operating budget is about $10
million.
"The board finally voted a couple weeks ago and
authorized the Center to proceed with the renova-
tion plans, and they must go forward," he said.
However, when the board holds its annual board
meeting June 19, the renovations will be on the agen-
da.
"The plans are still under discussion," Lis said.
"We're reviewing the options. The board is
appraised of the plight of the court players, and is
looking for fund-raising possibilities for the issues
raised and to finish the project."
Players were told a two-story addition could pro-
vide eight courts, but comes with a $4 million price
tag — above and beyond the $7 million earmarked
for the health and fitness construction. The expec-
tation is that players would help fund-raise.
Predicting A Trend
The West Bloomfield JCC is not the only Center
replacing its racquetball/squash courts for some-
thing more viable and profitable.
"Centers around the country are taking racquet-
ball courts and turning them into aerobic studios
and areas for free weights and personal training,"