Your court in winter

Courts do not hibernate. A modular tile floor drains rather than holding water, so it is playable on any dry winter day, and clearing it takes minutes. There is nothing to cover, lift or store.

That matters more than it sounds. The court you stop using in October is a court you paid for and get eight months of. Most of the reason people stop is the surface being wet or slippery, and this is the surface that is not.

Snow

Clear it with a plastic snow shovel or a stiff broom. A metal-edged shovel will gouge tiles and take the top off line markings, and unlike most winter damage that one is permanent.

A light covering can simply be left. It melts and drains through rather than pooling, which is the behaviour that makes the surface usable again quickly.

Ice, and the salt question

Do not chip ice off. Let it melt, or clear the snow before it compacts into ice in the first place, which is the easier discipline.

Rock salt is the thing to keep off the court, and the reason is not the tiles. Salt attacks steel, and the steel on a court is the hoop post, the fixings and any fence. Salt residue also stays in the joints and gets tracked about. If you need traction on the approach path, keep it to the path.

Frost is a base question, not a surface one

Polypropylene handles freezing temperatures without difficulty. It expands and contracts a little through the year, which is why tiles are laid with the tolerance to move rather than butted rigidly together.

What frost can affect is what is underneath. Ground that holds water can heave when it freezes, and a base laid without adequate drainage or on unsuitable ground is where winter problems come from. That is decided at the build stage rather than the maintenance stage, which is another reason the sub-base deserves the attention it gets.

If you notice a tile sitting proud after a hard freeze, look at the base under it rather than the tile.

Autumn is the job that matters

The single most useful winter preparation happens before winter. Clear the leaves. A court that goes into December with blocked drainage holes will hold water, and standing water plus freezing temperatures is the one combination that genuinely stresses a surface.

• Sweep the court clear once the leaves have finished falling
• Check that water still leaves the court where it is meant to
• Look at the ramp edging, since that is what a snow shovel meets first
• Bring nets in if you want them to last, and check hoop fixings before the weather turns

Playing through

Cold makes a ball bounce lower and hands less reliable, neither of which is the court's fault. The surface itself stays consistent, and grip in the wet is one of the things a textured tile does better than smooth tarmac.

Lighting is what usually decides whether a court gets used in winter, not the surface. Four o'clock darkness ends more sessions than frost does.