A firestorm of controversy is taking place at the UBC Tennis Centre in the midst of an $8 million facelift to the facility.

In April, Tomas Tapper, a long-time coach at the facility, was fired two weeks before his contract was up for renewal. Dozens of members complained loudly about the changes, blaming recently hired Tennis Director Neil Parker.

Then, on April 26, High Performance Head Coach Elena Gishiyants was abruptly fired after 12 years working for the Centre.

That night, three walls of the centre were vandalized with the word ‘Lena’.

Adding to the turmoil, Staff Administrator Anna Maria Enescu and coach Brian Grellmann both tendered their resignations shortly after the firing of their former co-workers.

Neil Parker declined to comment on the firings, or the possibility of re-instatement of either coach.

Scott Macrae, Executive Director of Public Affairs at UBC, told The Ubyssey that “for reasons of privacy, the university cannot discuss matters involving employees”.

Following the firings, resignations and vandalism, a movement sprung up. A “Save the Tennis Centre” page was created on Facebook, and currently has over 200 members. A document outlining the concerns of protesters was prepared for media. They’ve even started to print T-shirts to increase awareness.

Sepi Shams, one of the administrators of the group’s Facebook page, is frustrated by Parker’s response to the outrage.

“He sent out a generic message which [he] has previously used…telling players to stay patient with the new changes going on at the center,” she said, adding that he failed to cite reasons for the firing of the two coaches. Shams also added that the group was frustrated by the vandalism, “where anger was used very negatively instead of in a constructive manner.”

Ashneel Singh, an ex-coach from the centre, argued that the changes made by UBC Athletics were needed.

“[They probably] felt that the old management wasn’t able to take UBC Tennis Centre to the next level…so they hired a new tennis director.”

Under Neil Parker’s new management the Tennis Centre will be upgraded from a 4 to 12 court indoor facility, making it the biggest tennis facility in western Canada. Also, it will now only employ Tennis Canada certified coaches, which will make the Centre eligible for grants and provide coaches with liability insurance.

Singh also took aim at what he believed to be favouritism in the old management. “[They] protected a lot of the coaches and never forced them to improve their coaching. Now staff is no longer protected by management that doesn’t believe in professional development.”

For the over two hundred protestors, Gishiyants and Tapper were not only tennis instructors, but also friends.

“She had numerous students, yet she knew everyone so well,” said Shams. “She went out of her way to make sure all her students are doing well, on and off the court. If anyone had an issue, she made phone calls on her own time. For instance, back in January, I told her I could not play because of my father’s surgery. She asked me three times if I was doing okay, and that meant so much to me.”

However, protesters remain optimistic after a 90-minute discussion on May 7 with Director of Athletics Bob Philip.

“Mr Philip gave us a full and fair hearing and appeared genuinely interested in hearing what we had to say. We are hoping to get positive results from that meeting, and will be waiting for his response,” said Shams.

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