County tennis courts open in Lakeside

With an $11,000 grant and design assistance from the U.S. Tennis Association, Flathead County has constructed and opened two tennis courts in Ben Williams Park in Lakeside.

The county commissioners earlier this year approved $40,000 for construction of the courts and $10,000 for future maintenance. The total project cost was $61,000.

The courts were built to tennis association standards, with a retaining wall in one corner that serves as a practice backboard for those coming to the courts alone. 

Tamara Tanberg, chairwoman of the Lakeside Parks Advisory Committee, said the county has been striving to improve Ben Williams Park, located off Blacktail Road across from the state gravel pit in Lakeside. A new playground was installed a year ago.

The new courts have QuickStart lines painted on them to accommodate young children wanting to learn to play tennis. Jennifer Drew, another advisory committee member, said QuickStart is a new format to help children 10 and under learn the game.

“To make it easier for them, the court sizes, rackets, balls, scoring and even net height have changed,” Drew said. “The changes work, too, because now any child between ages 5 and 10 can start playing tennis almost immediately, even if he or she has never picked up a racket before.”

The project, a collaborative effort between the Flathead County Parks and Recreation Department and the advisory committee, got donations of time and resources from several entities, Tanberg noted.

Flathead Valley Community College’s heavy equipment operator’s class, supervised by Bill Roope, completed all excavating work in the park, charging only operating expenses.

The state Department of Transportation donated all of the recycled asphalt material needed for the project from the state pit across from the park. APEC Engineering donated its services for survey, topography and initial site planning.

“In addition, we have received many donations from our generous West Shore neighbors, to where we are within the last $2,000 of our construction costs,” Tanberg said.

An itinerary of programs for the new courts, such as tennis lessons, will be announced next spring. To be included in the tennis e-mail list, contact Drew at flwrgrls@gmail.com.