If you ever travel to play tennis or have a child who travels to play, you’ve likely experienced a modern racquet sports center with lots of courts (20+ is not uncommon). It’s eye-opening! Many of these facilities are public, so in addition to being large enough to host events and tournaments, they grow racquet sports by making them accessible and affordable.
With so many resort, club, and gated community courts, it’s easy to think of the Hilton Head/Bluffton area as having more courts than it needs. The thing is, most of these courts are private or restricted. Their main focus is members and guests. Clubs are not affordable by all. And, disconnected one- or two-court neighborhood facilities peppered through our County are inefficient and limited to neighborhood play – they do not invite ongoing programs, and they’re too small for team competition, events, and tournaments. Currently, we are limited in the programs we are able to offer in Bluffton by the lack of public courts.
Tennis is a great fitness activity. It’s social and fun, it has both team and individual dimensions, and it’s one of the few sports people play lifelong! In the early 2000’s, the founders of Public Tennis Inc. (PTI) recognized that despite hundreds of private courts, the public had next to no places to play, particularly on Hilton Head. Chaplin Park was the result of our founders’ hard work, vision, planning, and fund raising, partnering with the Town of Hilton Head, and the town’s support and follow-through.
In 2020, we proposed to County Council a conceptual facility plan (see our conceptual animation video) at a Buckwalter Parkway location. More recently, we’ve been involved with the town of Hilton Head’s conceptual plan to build an extensive facility at Marshland Road. In both cases, we’ve offered to bring local and USTA resources to the designs and business planning for these facilities. Today, PTI sees both need and opportunity to serve the public county-wide and we continue to advocate for large-scale regional facilities in Bluffton and Hilton Head.
Please join us in a show of support for these facilities by electronically signing the petition at THIS PAGE.
Beyond Beaufort County, in early 2024 we were awarded a USTA Foundation grant to renovate the four courts at the Hardeeville school in Jasper County, the project was completed in the spring, and we are working with the school district to build programs for the school and community. We’ve also filed for facility assistance for the courts which are planned for the Jasper County school in Ridgeland.
/
