Tennis club raises $20,000 for court expansion

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The Sussex Tennis Association pitched in $20,000 for upgrades to the town courts, as well as a pickleball court.

Representatives of the tennis club came to Sussex council recently to present a novelty cheque to Mayor Marc Thorne for part of the upgrades to the Hans Lammens Tennis Centre in Princess Louise Park. The $207,000 upgrade project will allow the tennis facility to hold competitive tournaments, council heard.

Thorne said the association has been a “full partner” in helping revitalize the town’s tennis court spaces and help develop tennis players in the Sussex area.

“They approached us to say the issue they had was, their tennis players are maturing as tennis players,” Thorne told Brunswick News. “They’ve got depth and they’re doing well in tournaments, and they would love to host tournaments themselves in Sussex, but there’s a minimum court requirement and they weren’t meeting that.”

Thorne said the town agreed to put in the foundation for a maximum of three future courts and start by developing one new court, to bring the number of active courts up to four. In addition to the $20,000 funding, the province is providing $107,000, and the town will provide approximately $80,000, according to Sussex CAO Scott Hatcher.

Sussex Tennis Association vice-president Kirk Sabine said the money came from the tennis club’s own proceeds and some volunteer cash, as well as fundraising from president Ted Robertson. He said the pad is there now and fencing will be going in.

“I want to say thank you to the township for responding so positively when we talked about expansion of the courts,” Sabine told council.

He said people may not understand how active they are as a club, saying they have youth programs and have hosted junior tournaments, but can’t host adult events because of only having three courts.

At the meeting, council heard that the centre will also be getting four pickleball courts using one of the court spaces, thanks to a gift from Corey McAllister of Brown’s Paving.

Pickleball is a sport developed from tennis, table tennis and badminton that involves paddles and a hollow plastic ball, according to the Pickleball Canada website.

“There has been over the last couple of years … a lot of talk about people wanting to play pickleball,” said Robertson, adding that at the court in Sussex Corner, there’s often a long line of people waiting to play.

“I think that’s going to make a lot of people in town very happy,” Robertson said.

Robertson said after a survey suggested as many as 75 people would be interested, he contacted McAllister, who agreed to help with the asphalt surface.

McAllister told Brunswick News the value of the donation would amount to $35,000 to $40,000.

“We thought that it was important, and with the work these guys have done, we thought it was time to step up,” McAllister said.

Thorne said at the meeting it was a “very significant” gesture from McAllister and Brown’s Paving, given the price of asphalt.

“I was very surprised by the announcement to create that second court, which will be a pickleball opportunity,” Thorne told Brunswick News, saying Brown’s “generosity is well-known” in the community.

At the meeting Thorne thanked the club for its work and said the tennis project was helpful in securing money for the pedestrian bridge project after it impressed a provincial official visiting the area.

“I was deputy mayor years ago when … Ted came to make a proposal in what was then a neglected tennis court,” he said. “You came to us with a vision and some promises, and you kept them all. It’s a world class facility.”

Coun. Fred Brenan said drawing more people to the Perry Street area will add to the need for the pedestrian bridge.

“It’s hard on a Saturday morning to drive up Perry Street without a whole lot of things going on up there,” Brenan said. “Good job, guys, hopefully it won’t be too long till the last (court) can be developed.”

Robertson, who was described as a compelling fundraiser by multiple councillors, told council it’s thanks to being in a community where “people want to get involved and people see things that look promising and want to help out.”

“There’s other communities as big as Sussex and bigger that aren’t as fortunate as we are,” Robertson said.