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USTA<\/p>\nUSTA<\/p>\n
ORLANDO, FL<\/strong> – The USTA announced that the Forked Lightning Racquet Club in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was named the Featured Facility of the Year, the highest honor bestowed by the USTA on a tennis facility. Forked Lightning Racquet Club was one of 41 winners of the USTA\u2019s annual Outstanding Facility Awards Program, which recognizes excellence in the construction and\/or renovation of tennis facilities throughout the country.<\/p>\n All 41 recipients were honored Monday, August 31, at an awards reception held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York as part of the 2026 US Open.<\/p>\n Founded in October 2025 by Kimberley and Scott Sheffield, the Forked Lightning Racquet Club features 12 tennis courts (six indoor, six outdoor) and offers over 30 weekly clinics, a full junior development pathway, adult programming; it also hosts major events including the upcoming 2026 Women\u2019s World Tennis Tour (W35) in November, which is projected to attract up to 2,500 people and introduce new audiences to the sport.<\/p>\n The Forked Lightning Club is the home of First Serve New Mexico, one of over 270 community organizations part of the USTA Foundation\u2019s National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network. With nearly 3,000 square feet of dedicated classroom space, First Serve New Mexico is able to deliver tennis instruction, individualized academic support, small-group tutoring, college test prep and life skills programming to young people from under-resourced communities, alongside the facility\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n In addition to its on-site programming, First Serve New Mexico also works with local schools, and plans to bring its \u2018Tennis in PE\u2019 initiative to six Title I schools, integrating tennis into the school day and helping to remove barriers such as cost, transportation and scheduling. The program will reach students from under-resourced communities, while creating a pathway into year-round tennis programming.<\/p>\n \u201cFacilities like Forked Lightning Racquet Club are really the heart of tennis in our communities. It\u2019s more than just a facility; it\u2019s about bringing neighbors together and making sure everyone feels welcome to pick up a racquet and play,\u201d said Theodore Loehrke, Managing Director, Head of Section Partnerships, USTA. \u201cThe work they do locally is what keeps our game growing and makes such a positive difference in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Facilities were judged on the following criteria: overall layout and adaptation to site; excellence of court surface and lights; ease of maintenance; accommodations for players, spectators and press\/officials; aesthetics; graphics (including the use of signs and landscaping); amenities such as casual seating for spectators, food services and social areas; and the facilities\u2019 participation in grassroots tennis programs.<\/p>\n Nominated facilities were voted on in the following categories: Public Courts that are either small tennis centers with 2 to11 courts or large tennis centers with 12 or more courts; Private Facilities that offer both USTA and public programming designed to help grow tennis (small: 2-11 courts; large: 12 or more courts); Educational Institutions such as colleges, universities, public and private grade schools, middle schools, or high schools; and Innovation, which recognizes facilities that have been particularly innovative when it comes to delivering tennis. All 2026 award winners will receive a wall plaque and an all-weather sign that can be mounted at the facility.<\/p>\n The 2026 USTA Outstanding Facility Award winners are:<\/p>\n Public Courts: Small Tennis Centers (2 to 11 courts)<\/strong><\/p>\n Conway Tennis Center (Conway, Ark.) Public Courts: Large Tennis Centers (12 or more courts)<\/strong><\/p>\n Bailey Road Park Court Complex (Cornelius, N.C.) Small Private Facilities (2-11 courts)<\/strong><\/p>\n Bay Area Racquet Club (Houston) Large Private Facilities (12 or more courts)<\/strong><\/p>\n Broadstone Sports Club (Folsom, Calif.) Educational Institutions<\/strong><\/p>\n Arrillaga Tennis Center (Stanford, Calif.) Innovative<\/strong><\/p>\n Court 16 Newton (Newton, Mass.) ORLANDO, FL<\/strong> – The USTA announced that the Forked Lightning Racquet Club in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was named the Featured Facility of the Year, the highest honor bestowed by the USTA on a tennis facility. Forked Lightning Racquet Club was one of 41 winners of the USTA\u2019s annual Outstanding Facility Awards Program, which recognizes excellence in the construction and\/or renovation of tennis facilities throughout the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[343],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12603,"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602\/revisions\/12603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clubinsideronline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nErnest Grundy Tennis Center (Kearney, Neb.)
\nFirst Serve Muncie Racquet Club (Muncie, Ind.)
\nHRCA Tennis Pavilion (Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
\nJoe W. Brown Tennis Center (New Orleans)
\nLake Oswego Tennis Center (Lake Oswego, Ore.)
\nRon Jaworski\u2019s RiverWinds Golf & Tennis Club (West Deptford, N.J.)<\/p>\n
\nBob Day Tennis Complex (Garland, Texas)
\nCayce Tennis & Fitness Center (Cayce, S.C.)
\nKossover Tennis Center (Topeka, Kan.)
\nThe Jimmy Evert Tennis Center (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
\nTuscaloosa Tennis Center (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
\nWellington Tennis Center (Wellington, Fla.)<\/p>\n
\nDoral Park Country Club (Doral, Fla.)
\nFort Collins Country Club (Fort Collins, Colo.)
\nHampshire Hills Athletic Club (Mildford, N.H.)
\nJohn Newcombe Country Club (New Braunfels, Texas)
\nNew Rochelle Racquet Club (New Rochelle, N.Y.)
\nPeninsula Tennis Club (Burlingame, Calif.)
\nThe Buccaneer Resort (Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands)<\/p>\n
\nITP Training Academy (Atlanta)
\nMidtown Athletic Club (Weston, Fla.)
\nThe Courts, Cape Coral (Cape Coral, Fla.)<\/p>\n
\nAvon High School Tennis Center (Avon, Ind.)
\nBrownsburg Tennis Facility (Brownsburg, Ind.)
\nDonald Van Blake Tennis Complex (Plainfield, N.J.)
\nEast St. Louis Senior High School (East St. Louis, Ill.)
\nFGCU Tennis Complex (Fort Myers, Fla.)
\nHeadington Family Tennis Center & Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion (Norman, Okla.)
\nHecht Tennis Center (Philadelphia)
\nMichael W. and Quirsis V. Riney Family Tennis Center (St. Louis, Mo.)
\nMRA Tennis Complex (Madison, Miss.)
\nNAU Tennis Center (Flagstaff, Ariz.)
\nRollins Tennis & Golf Center (Winter Park, Fla.)<\/p>\n
\nCourt 16 Ridge Hill (Yonkers, N.Y.)
\nForked Lightning Racquet Club (Santa Fe, N.M.)*
\n*2026 Featured Facility of the Year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"