Snellville Parks and Recreation has been honored by the United States Tennis Association with the Outstanding Parks and Recreation Award for its “service and outstanding accomplishments in our tennis community throughout 2024.”
“To reward this tireless effort, you are being honored as the winner of the Outstanding Parks and Recreation Award,” said Shannon Rowe, USTA Georgia Awards Committee Chair. “This is quite an impressive accomplishment, and you should be proud of your success.”
USTA Georgia (@USTAGeorgia) will announce the 2024 award winners live on its Facebook page 11 a.m. Nov. 20. The ceremony can be watched by the public. A reception for award recipients will be held Feb. 8 at the USTA Georgia Community Tennis Development Workshop in Atlanta.
Since 2020, SPRD has been working on growing its tennis programs and community outreach to generate interest in tennis at Briscoe Park. SPRD partnered with Anthony Evans of Advantage Evans Tennis to begin tennis instruction at the park and to start to offer more tennis options for children and adults.
“It’s not work for us,” Evans said about offering tennis instruction. “First and foremost, we love the park, we love creating programs for the patrons. If we didn’t get the award, we’d still be doing what we’re doing. It’s a team effort.”
Now more than 300 players utilize the courts at the park. Tennis services include lessons, clinics, tournaments, league play, flex leagues, camps for children and home to USTA and the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association, Inc. players.
“Mr. Evans has worked hard over the years teaching tennis and getting the word out to our community,” said SPRD Director, Lisa Platt, CPRP. “And now we have a variety of quality tennis program options for our community at Briscoe Park.”
USTA/PTR certified since 1994, Evans continues to work with the park to host USTA events that help qualify for USTA grants.
“USTA has been involved over these last few years of helping to grow the SPRD Tennis programs,” Platt said. “Supporting us with answering general questions, to their grant programs which we have utilized to help financially support our tennis programing. Meghan Meegan, SPRD Program Coordinator, has been the bridge between working with USTA and Advantage Evans Tennis and our community members.”
Meegan said the popularity of tennis has grown greatly with the help of Evans, staff and USTA.
“Now with teams and the instruction, plus patrons wanting to use the courts for open play, we have people waiting to use the courts each evening,” Meegan said.
“The future is bright for the park’s tennis program,” Platt said. “SPRD staff work really hard in the creation and execution of all our leagues, programs, and events to give our diverse community as many options as possible and to give our community members what they are looking for through recreation and a place to relax,” she said. “SPRD will continue to serve our residents by offering the current tennis programs as well as many new ones in tennis and other sports and recreational programing as SPRD continues to grow and execute the Briscoe Park Master Plan.”
For more information on tennis at Briscoe Park visit snellville.org/parks-recreation/tennis-0