October 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 68

TENNIS

Orlando,
Florida:

Moving and Expanding
If a venue built in the 1960s sounds
like a challenge, the city of Orlando, Florida, has been working with
one built in 1932. It was, therefore,
something of a relief when a parcel
of land was donated approximately
three miles away, and the Orlando
Tennis Centre could begin its longplanned-for expansions and improvements.

" Having the extra space will also
allow us to add another school
or two to our programs. "
The USTA assisted the city by
creating profit/loss statements,
cost recovery statements, business
models and key performance indicators - all pointing to the need
for, and the inherent reward in,
building the new facility.
Scott Thornton, Tennis Centre
manager and director of tennis, says

that the new building will be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
accessible, and will include 16
courts and updated lighting, as well
as men's and women's locker rooms
and covered seating for spectators.
It will be able to accommodate tournament play as well as leagues.
More importantly, he notes, it
will have plenty of space to host
the community's programs for disadvantaged youth - an integral
part of the facility's mission.
" We're going to bus the kids over
from the academic center of excellence in town and bring them out
here between two and four days a
week, " he says, his voice filling with
excitement. " Having the extra space
will also allow us to add another
school or two to our programs. "
The program includes academic
help, providing a listening ear and
plenty of tennis play.
" Tennis is the vehicle for the tutoring and mentoring we offer. It
teaches a healthy lifestyle, as well
as sportsmanship, " he notes. " I
would say 99 percent of the kids

who come here have never played
tennis in their lives, but a few of
them have gotten really good at it. "
And, ultimately, it builds relationships.
" It's fantastic how many hugs we
get each day. We can't wait to be
able to get that program started up
again, " he says.

Birmingham,
Alabama:

Streamlining Operations
In some cases, it's not new courts
that are needed, but the ability to
optimize the ones you have. Birmingham, Alabama, had three
large city-owned tennis centers
that, put together, offered up a total
of 30 courts.
The problem, says Shonae
Eddins-Bennett, director of Birmingham's parks and recreation
department, was that all three facilities were managed separately,
making it difficult to create consistency when booking large events
or even scheduling routine maintenance work. Her vision was to have
a more organized, streamlined system that would tie the facilities together and generate better usage.
" What we needed was to put
all three of the tennis centers all
under one umbrella, so that we
would have one person to communicate with about everything that
was going on. "
Working with the USTA, EddinsBennett was able to discuss and
evaluate potential business models
that took into account an overall
management strategy for finances,
programming and instruction, as

Part of the mission for Orlando, Florida's
new tennis facility is to provide space
to host the community's programs for
disadvantaged youth.
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October 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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