USTA Pacific Northwest Section Opens Two Tennis Facilities
September 6, 2018
The USTA Pacific Northwest (USTA PNW) opened the Galbraith Tennis Center in Tacoma, Wash., and reopened the Vancouver Tennis Center in Vancouver, Wash. Both facilities offer an experience and amenities that are considered industry best. Modern tenant improvements, court surfacing, and live stream court viewing are just a few of the attractions both facilities provide.
“We believe that these facilities will be the first of many that we will revitalize or build, and operate,” said Matthew Warren, USTA PNW executive director. “We will continue to actively seek new opportunities and partnerships to expand both tennis infrastructure and play opportunities in a sustainable way. After all, we will not be achieving our mission to grow the game unless there are places to play the sport we all love.”
USTA PNW’s strategy for providing access includes RecTennis® (recreational tennis program), tournaments and trainings, fundraising, scholarships and sliding scale entry, and now facilities management.
The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a groundswell of interest in tennis but there is currently only one indoor court for every 26,706 people. When factoring accessibility (public courts only), it’s one court for every 158,868 people. USTA PNW addresses this challenge with the two public tennis centers.
Opening the two centers is part of the USTA PNW’s larger mission-based effort to build a sustainable future for tennis in the Pacific Northwest by fostering community spaces in which everyone – regardless of age, economic status and ability levels – can play tennis together. By offering a best-in-class on court and off court experience, along with robust programming and need-based scholarships, these rejuvenated tennis centers will naturally generate more access opportunities to a wider population and will keep both facilities fiscally sound.
Galbraith Tennis Center was named for tennis legend Pat Galbraith, who grew up playing tennis in Tacoma, became the top-ranked world tennis player, and has given back to the tennis community as a volunteer for decades.