For the last several years, members of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors have worked to get public tennis courts in the Oak Grove community, a measure necessitated because up until now, the area has lacked even a single court on which school teams or residents could play.
The solution to that problem got its ceremonial start on July 13, with a ribbon cutting event sponsored by the Area Development Partnership held at the upcoming tennis/pickleball courts off Lincoln Road Extension, near Blue Ribbon Drive and Oak Grove High School. The project, which has been spearheaded by District 4 Supervisor Mitch Brent and District 1 Supervisor Steve Lampton, is a joint project between the Lamar County School District, the Lamar County Board of Supervisors, and the City of Hattiesburg, which have all contributed funding.
“When you make the (Oak Grove) tennis team, it’s seventh through 12th grade, so it’s 50-something kids that are on that tennis team, and they’ve had this Oak Grove tennis team for decades,” Brent said. “One thing I didn’t know – but I realized once my son was on the team – is that they have absolutely no public courts in this community for these kids to play on.
“So every single day, those kids have to go to the other side of town to Tatum Park and wrestle for courts against the other schools in town, like Sacred Heart and PCS and sometimes Hattiesburg High. So it’s not a great situation when your seventh-grader is jumping in the car with a 12th-grader to go to practice every day … and lo and behold, this is one of those problems we’ve finally found a solution to.”
Phase I of the project, which is expected to be completed by next spring, will feature eight tennis courts and eight pickleball courts, along with parking lots.
“There will be none of this ‘crossover’ stuff,” Brent said. “(These courts) will be designated for each sport.”
Future phases are expected to include sand volleyball courts, walking trails, a disc golf course, a trailhead, connections to the nearby Optimist Park and room for other potential future expansion.
“For 30 years, Purvis, Lamar County, Sumrall, Oak Grove – they’ve all had tennis teams and not one of them have ever had a ‘home’ match,” Brent said. “Starting this spring, that changes.
“Starting this spring, we have ‘home’ matches, and we don’t go across town anymore to practice.”
In July 2021, officials had garnered more than $600,000 – with some funds contributed by Brent and Lampton – which was about half the expected cost of the project at the time. Brent said he was ready to start the project then and there, and hopefully raise money as the process continued.
Early this year, officials from the Lamar County Board of Supervisors received a $2.1 million bid for the project – decidedly higher than the $1.2 million initially expected – putting the plans for the complex temporarily on hold until the new funding was made available.
During a May meeting of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors, board members voted to approve the transfer of $300,000 from the county’s special projects fund to fund the tennis/pickleball facility fund to cover expenditures to begin the project. In addition, supervisors approved the award of the low bid contract to Sports Contractors Unlimited LLC for the complex, and authorized board president Warren Byrd to sign a letter to proceed on the construction.
“I think today, and all the steps that have led us to today, are a reminder of the power of people when they come together and cooperate, and see the big picture together,” Mayor Toby Barker said. “When (the Lamar County Board of Supervisors) decides they want to do something, they’re going to do it.
“The power that we have as a region, as a city, happened because years ago, people came together to invest in organizations like the ADP. If we can come up with more projects like this, where we collaborate to do what’s right for the citizens of west Hattiesburg, the citizens of Lamar County, for the students at Oak Grove and every other Lamar County school, (then) the better we’re going to be.”
Anyone interested in contributing to the project can go through the Greater Pinebelt Community Foundation at (601) 583-6180 or www.pinebeltfoundation.org.
“What a great day – this is an incredible opportunity here,” ADP president Chad Newell said. “When you have the public sector, the private sector and the school systems pulling in the same direction, we can accomplish just what we’re doing today.”
