Nation Ford High looks forward to using new tennis courts

With the start of the school year right around the corner, the Nation Ford Falcons tennis teams will be able to use their new tennis courts for the first time.

The tennis courts, constructed by Hostetter and Son out of Charlotte, will be six courts like the previous ones, but will be located behind the baseball field at the back of the Nation Ford property.

“They are coming along,” said Nation Ford Director of Athletics Jaybe Shackleford. “They should be done for the start of the girls’ season. We are very confident the new tennis courts will be there for a long time.”

While the school is only about a dozen years old, the former tennis courts, located beside the football stadium, has been giving the school problems for years. Foundational issue caused crews to work on the courts several years ago and had to have the girls’ team play on the tennis courts at the nearby Springfield community and at rivals Fort Mill High for the 2014 season. During that year they also practiced at the Anne Springs Close Greenway Recreational Complex, now the Fort Mill YMCA Complex.

The school will not be doing away with the former courts, but will convert them into different uses for other sports and the school’s JROTC unit. For example, courts five and six, those closest to the parking lots, will be used for JROTC as a place for them to drill, Shackleford said.

The school is still floating other ideas around. Some of those ideas for the remaining courts include an indoor hitting facility for the baseball and softball teams.

“We aren’t sure what we can do with them depending on how solid the foundation is,” Shackleford said.

Shackleford said they are shooting for an Aug. 1st completion date for the courts.

This story was originally published July 27, 2018 at 11:34 AM.