COASTAL OBSERVER

 A $1.7 million project is underway at Waccamaw Regional Tennis Center at Stables Park to add two clay courts and convert four hard-surfaced courts into clay ones.

Georgetown County was selected to receive Tennis Venue Services grant funds from the U.S. Tennis Association for the project; $200,000 from national, $100,000 from the Southern  region and $1,000 from the state.

David Bromberg, the head of the county’s tennis program at Stables Park, said construction should be finished by March or April. After construction there will be nine clay courts and four hard courts. More LED lights will be installed as well.

“I’m glad it’s happening. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a war zone out there,” Bromberg said.

Tommy Cerasaro was playing tennis at Stables on one of the clay courts, and he said the addition will “change everything” from individual play to tournaments.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Cerasaro said.

“It’s better for us older guys, too. We all like soft courts,” added Rich Loveland, Cerasaro’s doubles partner.

Bromberg agreed. He grew up playing on clay courts in North Carolina.

“It’s much healthier for you. There’s less injuries that occur on clay courts versus hard courts,” he said. “It’s a slower surface so points kind of last longer on clay.”

The state is ranked No. 7 in the nation in active facilities improvement projects, according to Sheryl McAlister, the state association’s senior director of advocacy. She called the coastal area “critical” in the growth she has seen with USTA SC.

The association as a whole has created a goal to get 10 percent of the U.S. population to play tennis by 2035, which would make the U.S. the No. 1 tennis-playing nation with 35 million players, she said. To reach this goal, McAlister said there must be more quality places for people to play.

Therefore it’s not exclusive to the Waccamaw Neck.

The county has made efforts to bring tennis to rural areas, including Andrews, Choppee, North Santee and Pleasant Hill, for children to go through a summer camp program. The young players get to keep some of the equipment after the camp, such as a racket and tennis balls.

“There might be the next Serena [Williams] out there but they just haven’t been introduced to tennis yet,” said Beth Goodale, the county’s director of parks and recreation.

There is interest. Wade Wilder, a former county employee who lives in Maryville south of Georgetown, said he used to ride his bicycle down to the tennis courts at South Island Park to hit rallies. Those three courts have since been removed by Parks and Recreation.

The three courts were beyond repair, according to former County Council Member Everett Carolina.

“They utilized those courts,” Carolina said. “You had roots growing through it so that means they never put down a good foundation. They never kept it up, and so forth and so on. So they eliminated them.”

Wilder said  Maryville residents have stopped him in aisles of Food Lion and Dollar General to see if he knew what the plan was for the tennis courts. He said Goodale promised him earlier this year that the courts at South Island would be rebuilt.

But Goodale said there are no plans to rebuild. Three additional courts were built at East Bay Park in Georgetown, she said, where approximately 115,000 people used them last year.

“That’s unacceptable,” Wilder said.

Carolina, who served two terms on County Council from District 3, was a major proponent of athletics in rural areas, including tennis and pickleball courts in North Santee. He is now advocating for a truck stocked with sports equipment that parks and recreation employees can take to rural communities.

“You can build tennis courts. You can build basketball courts. But especially in the unincorporated areas, if you don’t have personnel to come down to the kids, you’re just building the facility and you have no continuation of a program,” he said.

Bromberg said some progress is being made to continue rural tennis programs. 

“We’re trying. In the summertime, I headed up a couple programs,” in Choppee, Pleasant Hill and East Bay, he said. “It did well. Some places did better than others.”

Students at Andrews High School are interested in playing tennis, and they have courts. However the school could not find a tennis coach to head the program.

“I personally can’t be in all these places at once,” Bromberg said. “It’s a matter of trying to find volunteer coaches to go out there and do what they do on their rec level to get these kids out there playing. It’s tricky.”

Friends of Stables Tennis, a nonprofit in its infancy, has had some volunteer coaches who take programs out to students with Teach My People for free. He said he has been brainstorming ideas of ways to get rackets in the hands of people in rural communities.

For example, he wants to put together an eight-week long summer program with volunteer coaches for an “off” season as other sports do, such as basketball and football. 

“Kids in all areas should get the opportunity to play tennis. Tennis is a forever sport,” Bromberg said. “It’s great for kids to participate in all sports, especially in today’s day and age when all they want to do is get on their phones.”