Tennis Venue Services transforms Waccamaw Regional Tennis Center

South Carolina community tennis advocate Nate Fata and his friends always appreciated playing on the relatively forgiving clay courts at the Waccamaw Regional Tennis Center at Stables Park on Pawleys Island. But pre-pandemic, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the group to secure time on the two clay courts at the public tennis facility.

“Clay absorbs more impact, reducing stress on joints and muscles, which is really appealing to the many retirees in the Grand Strand area,” Fata explains. “The two clay courts at Waccamaw Regional [commonly referred to as Stables Tennis Center (STC)] were always full. We really needed more clay courts, and luckily, there was room to expand.”

In 2019, Fata, a local attorney, began the process of grassroots fundraising and advocating for improvements at STC, rallying community government leaders and the local CTA, the Grand Strand Tennis Foundation. Five years later, with grants from USTA National and USTA Southern secured, the $1.7 million project moved forward.

The renovation, completed this past July, resulted in the conversion of four existing hard courts to clay, construction of three new clay courts with LED lighting, and the conversion of 10 existing court lighting systems to LED. Now, STC offers a total of nine clay courts, along with four hard courts.

“The Waccamaw project was the ideal partnership between USTA National and USTA South Carolina, with a local interested volunteer and advocate taking the lead to get it done,” says Sheryl McAlister, Senior Director of Advocacy & Community Development for USTA South Carolina.

“The significance of this project cannot be overstated in the context of South Carolina’s growing tennis-playing population,” especially along the state’s Atlantic coast.