How USTA Tennis Venue Services is expanding tennis' footprint in Columbia, Mo.

Lowery says that while the city has had tennis courts for decades—with the two new Philips Park courts, it now maintains 26 in all—this was the first time in many years that new courts were built from scratch in a city park.

“We originally bid this out as a turn-key project, but the bids came back higher than budgeted,” he notes. “So we acted as the general contractor then bid out pieces of the project, and our in-house staff did some of the work, too.”

This is where the USTA’s Tennis Venue Services department helped the Park & Rec Department to realize their vision.

“They made a number of changes to follow our recommendations,” says Blythe, “for instance using full virgin asphalt, adding gates, increasing side fencing height from 36 to 42 inches, and adding blended lines.”

“It was awesome working with the USTA—Heather was terrific getting all the tech stuff together for us, and John [Terpkosh, a USTA Missouri Valley tennis service representative] was great helping with the grant itself,” says Lowery. “I had never done a USTA grant before. Originally, I thought I was going to get a much smaller grant amount, but Heather and John made me realize I should be submitting the application in a higher category. So we went that extra mile and received the full amount for a Category 3 grant.”

“Toney really appreciated all the step-by-step guidance we were able to provide,” adds Terpkosh, who works with facilities throughout the section. “USTA Missouri Valley has been very supportive of this project and the potential these courts will offer the community of Columbia. They’ll allow the Parks & Rec Department to expand tennis into the south part of Columbia, an area of new growth.”

For more on how the USTA’s Tennis Venue Services can help your facility or project, visit usta.com/facilities or email facilities@usta.com.