The Strathalbyn Tennis Club will recieve a boast of nine new or refurbished courts, thanks to the State Minister of Recreation and Sport, Leon Bignell, announcing last Thursday they had been granted $90,000 by the government.
With the club having just celebrated its centenary, Club President Clive Rafferty said it was great news to hear the State Government had given support for their aim to upgrade their courts with money from the Community Recreation and Sports Facilities Program, which has seen $6.9 million go to 48 projects across the State.
Clive said that the courts were in a poor state with several complaints being made about their conditions and the club had their fingers crossed that their grant application would be successful.
Successful it was as Clive personally received a letter of approval from Leon Bignell who said “The courts are not only used by the club, but also by more than 2,000 school children across the Alexandrina Council Area for various programs and Tournaments.
Leon went on to say that “it was expected there will be more than 800 regular users of these courts, as well as another 10 regional tennis clubs.”
Clive said that the new courts will attract more players for their tournaments held annually and be a pleasure for other visiting teams in the Onktaparinga Tennis association to play on.
Clive said the Club will put in $54,000 towards the cost of the courts being refurbished along with $36,000 from Tennis Australia and the project will be handled by Sport Dev based at Memorial Drive in Adelaide once tenders have been called for.
The plan involves the front four courts, currently built only on a solid earth base with asphalt on them, at cost of $30,000 per court be ripped up and built on a concrete base and shifted slightly away from the Motel side and the Murray Road side.
The other five courts like the front four will then be resurfaced and finished off in a dark blue the international colour for courts, all with new posts and nets.
Clive said the site will be terrific onces the details of the project, tenders and construction has been completed, work expected to start in October after the club’s junior tournament and completed in a couple of months.
Clive said the support from the State Goverment, Majoy Lym McHugh and the Alexandrina Council along with Tennis SA and Tennis Australia was fantastic and hopefully present a new era of tennis in Strathalbyn.
It has been a fruitful time for the Strathalbyn Tennis Club, having recently a grant from the Alexandrina Council to rebuild the clubhouse veranda.
Cllive said the next project for the club will be to upgrade their backstops.
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