Niles district serves up tennis courts

Facility built for high school teams, community

NILES -- School district students will be able to practice and have matches at five new tennis courts that were officially opened over the weekend by the school district administration building.

A ribbon cutting ceremony for the tennis courts took place Saturday.

Niles Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen said, "This is a great day for Niles City Schools and the Niles community, but even more exciting is for our athletic program, especially our girls and boys tennis teams."

She said that more than two years ago, tennis coaches Stephanie Thomas and Tracy Kempe and members of the tennis teams spoke to the board of education and explained the struggles they had playing at their current locations, where there were limited courts.

"Their concerns resonated with board members and the athletic director, and we began having conversations about it. After discussions and planning, it is now summer 2026, and you can see what we have," Thigpen said.

She said the U.S Tennis Association provided grant funding for the tennis courts with $175,000 for the $361,000 project, with the remainder coming from school funds.

School officials said this is the first time the school district has had its own tennis courts.

In previous years, the district used tennis courts at Stevens and Waddell parks in Niles. Since then, many of those at Stevens have turned into pickleball courts, and the remaining tennis courts were deemed unplayable.

"Their help took this project to what we see today," Thigpen said.

Thomas said that for years, the girls tennis team was playing at Stevens Park on two courts, taking more than four hours to get through one match.

"We had other schools telling us to come use their courts so we would not have to be at the park so long. The team did not want to do that. The boys tennis team were playing at the courts in McDonald, so they did not have home courts," Thomas said.

The girls team, which is in its sixth year, was able to begin playing on the courts Saturday.

Thomas said a tennis match itself consists of five games -- the five-court addition allows the Niles team to play a full match against their opponents all at once instead of having to wait and use two courts as the team had been doing.

She said all home games and practices will be at the new tennis courts.

Thigpen said the courts will be available to the public for use as well. A. Neider Architects designed for the courts.