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May 15, 2009 - By Margaret Zhou
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The park features two baseball fields, two beach volleyball courts, a tennis complex including nine regulation courts and one tournament clay court, lighted basketball courts, restroom and concession facilities, a children's playground, picnic facilities, open meadow areas, onsite parking for approximately 200 vehicles and a walking/jogging trail. Riverside residents took advantage of the facilities throughout the first weekend of the park’s opening, as basketball and beach volleyball courts were filled and large groups played soccer in the meadow areas.
The park, located at Chicago and Central Ave., was finally finished after construction that had lasted since 2007 at a total cost of $11,795,000. It is just one of many projects of the Riverside Renaissance, which was approved in 2006 and totaled $1.6 billion. However, the real history behind the park began about 30 years ago when a past University of California Riverside professor, Charles Roos, gave the land for a city park as part of a deal that allowed him to build an apartment complex on the other side of Chicago Ave. The park was named after Roo’s wife, Anne. “Andulka†means “Little Anne†in Czech and was Anne’s childhood nickname. Although the Roos couple now lives in Nashville, Tenn., they were informed of the park’s opening and expressed joy that the park had finally been completed.
This month, the Riverside City Council granted a concession to run the tennis center to the private-owned firm iTennis, based in South Pasadena. The firm will provide tennis lessons, tournaments, memberships, court reservations and camps. It will also pay for the cost of all operations, marketing, maintenance and utilities at the center. Director of Tennis Larry Loeb has over 30 years of coaching experience. In his home state of Colorado, Loeb created a “Team Colorado†program under the Colorado Tennis Association. He coached and trained the top 50 junior tennis players in the program for three years. Loeb has also competed in and won numerous prestigious competitions, such as ATP circuit, world wide, part-time and singles. He was the USPTA Intermountain “Player of the Year†for seven years. The center also features Celebrity Pro Derrick Rostagno, also an ATP player. At the peak of Derrick’s career he was ranked number 13 in the world.
The tennis center is not free to the public. A player either buys a membership or pays $6 an hour to use a court on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and $12 at other times. The center is open weekdays 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Park safety is ensured by bright night-time lighting over fields and courts as well as court supervision.
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