VLPRA building new tennis courts

Published 5:40 pm Friday, July 27, 2018

VALDOSTA — As Keith Childree left the Harry B. Anderson Tennis Center at McKey Park on Thursday evening, he noticed an interesting sight.

It was about 7:30, and yet all but one or two of the 12 current courts were in use. There were no clinics or camps going on, it was just people playing for fun.

It’s this type of passion for tennis in the community that has resulted in the construction of six new courts at the complex, as well as the resurfacing of the courts already there. The total cost of the project is $928,000 according to Suzan Prince, president of non-profit organization Tennis Valdosta Community Tennis Association.

The new courts were paid for using money from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority, while the resurfacing of the existing courts was paid for using city SPLOST funding. The projected completion date is Oct. 11.

Prince said the main goal of Tennis Valdosta is to grow and promote tennis in Valdosta. With the growing interest in the sport in town, the new courts became something of a necessity, something Prince credits Childree with creating by “encouraging people to come out and play tennis.”

Tennis has not always been a relevant sport in Valdosta. After all, the moniker of Titletown didn’t come from local tennis leagues.

However, Prince hopes promoting tennis can let residents know there are other sports out there besides the big three of football, basketball and baseball.

“It’s just fun to get people involved and to show people that there are other options,” Prince said. “If football or baseball or basketball isn’t for you, then we’ve got a sport that you can play and you can continue to play throughout your life.”

The new courts will benefit Valdosta residents who enjoy tennis in their free time, as well as those that play in the local tournaments and attend the various camps and clinics held by Childree at McKey Park. However, the new courts will also pay dividends to the community in other ways.

The new courts allowed Tennis Valdosta to bid on hosting the Georgia United States Tennis Association Mixed Doubles State Championship, which requires 38 lighted courts. The original plan was to have matches at McKey Park, Valdosta State and Lowndes High School, but the pushed back completion date of the new courts has required that the new courts at Valdosta High School be used as well.

The tournament will include about 60 teams from all over the state, consisting of players 18 years and older. Play will run from Aug. 10-13, and the tournament has also been awarded to Valdosta in August 2019 as well.

Prince hopes seeing players of this caliber will influence more players to pick up the game.

“Even people who played in high school and maybe they haven’t picked up a racket in 20 years, when you see people playing at this level, they’re like, ‘OK, I can do this, I’m going to get my racket back out and dust it off,’” Prince said.

Having a tournament of this caliber brings in many people from out of town, which in turn helps out local businesses. Prince said the USTA estimates a $450,000-$500,000 economic impact per tournament, which brings the total for the two years close to $1 million.

Hosting an event of this magnitude also provided an opportunity for the tennis association to work closely with local businesses. Prince said local businesses were able to raise $11,000 to provide services such as meals and hotel rooms to people in town for the tournament.

But for Prince, hosting tournaments is just an “added bonus.” The main goal of building the new courts is, first and foremost, to serve the Valdosta community.

“We just want to be able to provide a facility that everybody can come out and play,” Prince said.