Two weeks after the Hixson High School tennis teams began practice this season, they found themselves without courts to play on.
They previously practiced and played home matches at the Racquet Club in Hixson, where the school has played for free for more than two decades. This year, the teams shared courts with Hixson Middle School.
The Racquet Club and Hixson parted ways earlier this year due to a disagreement regarding a possible donation that was to be made to the high school.
Racquet Club owner Leland Goldston, who recently had extensive work done on his courts, declined to comment on the dispute. Berean Academy and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have continued to use courts there without charge.
“We work around the middle school’s tennis schedule, and they work around ours,” second-year Hixson boys’ and girls’ coach Darren Miller said. “There was nowhere else to play available. Every place in town was booked. It’s been a tough season on us.”
Hixson High School has campus tennis courts that are not in good playing condition. Miller considered moving the team to Warner Park, but his players said the drive would be too far. The Champions Club was used for some matches but was not feasible for the whole season because the tennis program didn’t have enough money or time to reschedule all nine of its home matches there.
When schools play at the Champions Club for dual matches, the home team pays for the courts. The 20-court facility also hosts a full schedule of teams including Notre Dame, St. Jude, OLPH, Covenant College and UTC.
Five Hixson matches were moved to the middle school courts and four were played at Champions Club in March during Notre Dame’s spring break.
“(Champions Club director) Orlando Lourenco allowed us to play those four matches there, and it helped us out a lot,” Miller said.
With a limited budget, Hixson is looking into practice and match court options for next year and searching for sponsorship to help with costs. This year’s practices have been split between the high school and middle school courts.
“Change is always hard, and it’s different not having a home,” Hixson senior Karen Rybolt said. “We’ve had a lot of confusion of who’s practicing where and where we’re meeting, because we’re split up and we only have one coach.”
