Cities In Iowa Growing The Game

What does Adel, South Sioux City and Waukon have in common? The passion to grow parks and recreational tennis programming within their communities unites these three cities together.

Tennis can play a major role in improving communities, schools, the health of individuals and the quality of life for all and USTA is able to provide grants to USTA Iowa to support the growth of tennis. 

Adel, in Central Iowa, offered their first recreational program to the community last summer, including red ball and orange ball tennis. The success Adel saw last summer with youth signing up for tennis brought about expanding the recreational offering to youth ages 13-17. The city will offer two sessions for ages 13-17, beginning in June.

Adel currently has two public tennis courts and is continually looking to grow their tennis programming. “We are super excited to grow our program and generate more interest in tennis as tennis is a lifelong sport”, said Adel Aquatics & Recreation Supervisor Sadie Mudder.

Adults looking to get involved in the game can connect with the Adel Tennis Club through the parks and recreation department. The Adel Tennis Club hosts both women’s and men’s tennis leagues. 

South Sioux City (located along the Iowa/Nebraska border and serving many in western Iowa) was able to add three additional indoor courts to their First Serve complex.

Construction began last spring on the 25,300-square-foot facility, costing nearly $1.5 million.

The climate-controlled facility has three indoor courts, each with dimensions suitable for Division I college tennis matches. South Sioux City already has a number of outdoor tennis courts, including at the public high schools and at Leif Erikson Park.

However, outdoor tennis has its limitations in Northwest Iowa.

With the addition of the new indoor courts, First Serve can now host collegiate matches. To accommodate larger competitions, First Serve would more than likely need to expand and already looking at a possible expansion to six courts at some point in the future. 

Waukon, in northeast Iowa, has not had tennis courts and the community is ready for tennis after working on this project for several years. The entire community pulled together with donations, foundation grants and the USTA national PFA grant process.

"I've been so impressed how this community worked to accomplish this project for kids and adults alike," said John Terpkosh, USTA Iowa Tennis Service Representative. The project cost a total of $161,803, of which $47,950 was raised from 21 Waukon business donors and $21,270 from 21 individual donations. 

Other cities in Iowa expanding their court presence include Marshalltown and Ames.