The San Angelo, Texas property is the featured facility among four private clubs that will be recognized through the 2017 United States Tennis Association awards as part of the organization’s semi-annual meeting, to be held in New York in September, in conjuction with the U.S. Open. Others recognized among private facilities include Cape Fear CC, Dataw Island Club Tennis Center, and Overland Park Racquet Club.
When tennis enthusiasts from around the world congregate at the 2017 U.S. Open in New York in September, the city of San Angelo, Texas, will be part of the festivities, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported, because Bentwood Country Club of San Angelo has been awarded one of the highest United States Tennis Association (USTA) honors.
Bentwood CC will be recognized at the USTA’s semi-annual meeting during the U.S. Open at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on September 4, the Standard-Times reported, as the featured private facility in the organization’s 2017 facility awards program.
Other private facilities earning 2017 recognition through the annual USTA awards include Cape Fear Country Club, Wilmington, N.C.: Dataw Island Club Tennis Center, St. Helena Island, S.C. and Overland Park (Kan.) Racquet Club.
In determining the awards, the USTA judges facilities on “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 facility’s participation in USTA programs.”
“We were really kind of surprised when we were informed,” Kevin Collins, Bentwood CC’s managing partner, who started as the club’s head tennis pro in 1989, told the Standard-Times. “We were actually nominated by [Amanda Friday] out of Midland [Texas], who is an USTA Tennis Service representative.
“She nominated us for what we thought was just going to be a Texas award,” Collins added. “Obviously, we feel really proud of the things that we’ve done over the last 30 years and the improvements that we’ve done to the facility.
“Once we sat down with [Friday] and started writing down the history of the program since I’ve been here, it was kind of eye-opening quite honestly,” Collins told the Standard-Times. “You do something and you don’t really pay attention, and the next thing you know you wake up and there’s just a lot of things that have happened over the years.”
This past fall, the Standard-Times reported, Bentwood CC finished the addition of a 5,000-sq. ft. tennis and fitness area with six newly post-tensioned courts and four resurfaced courts. But that renovation was not just about tennis. A multi-sport turf field was added to be used for track and field, soccer, volleyball, basketball and a children’s playground, and a Courtside Bar & Grill was also added.
All USTA-sanctioned tournaments in San Angelo since 1989 have been hosted by Bentwood, the Standard-Times reported, bringing an economic impact of more than $14 million to the community in nearly 30 years.
In addition, Bentwood CC’s tennis pros have helped to produce 72 collegiate players since 1989, representing 57 colleges and universities.
Like any sport, Collins says tennis has its “ebbs and flows,” so the Bentwood committee decided to incorporate other sports at the facility, the Standard-Times reported.
“What it did is it created an overall athletic synergy center for our facility,” he said. “Yes, we’re a tennis facility, but what we are is an overall fun facility, and we’re bringing in people from all levels of athleticism and introducing them not only to tennis but to other sports. And that’s actually grown our program and made us more successful.”
Bentwood has added four pickleball courts in the last four years, the Standard-Times reported, to introduce the sport that’s easier on players whose mobility may not be what it was in their younger days.
“Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the United States right now, and we were one of the first facilities in the nation to embrace it—definitely the first in West Texas,” Collins said.
Having so many things to offer now helps to make Bentwood a more attractive club, its staff told the Standard-Times.
“It’s just a much more inviting environment, where people don’t just go onto the tennis courts and leave now,” said Bentwood’s head tennis pro, Courtney Nagel, a former professional player who has worked at the club since 2002. “There’s much more around there now for them to do. It’s much more family-friendly.
“Tennis in West Texas at Bentwood isn’t something that happened overnight,” Nagel added. “It’s something that’s become a Bentwood culture, and we’ve grown throughout the 30 years. We do have a special thing out here at Bentwood, and it’s nice to be recognized on a national level.”
The addition of the multi-sport turf field did force the removal of Bentwood’s showcase court, and “a lot of the tennis players are sad to see Court 1 gone,” Bentwood tennis pro Kaysie Smashey told the Standard-Times.
“But I think in the long run it’s the best thing for the club, because it’s inviting more people to be a part of it, not just tennis players,” Smashey added. “If you drive by on a Friday or Saturday night, you see a bunch of teenagers out there playing volleyball and soccer.”
Bentwood couldn’t accomplish all of these things without a communitywide effort, Nadel told the Standard-Times.
“I’m proud that we won this award and I’m really grateful for our staff here at Bentwood, our members of the club for supporting our events, and just our tennis community in general,” she said. “Some of them are not members of our club, but they come and support our tournaments. They play in our USTA leagues and our USTA tournaments.
“We just have a very supportive tennis community here at Bentwood and in San Angelo,” she added. “I think that, coupled with our staff who loves tennis and puts on these events, is what helped us achieve this. We keep tennis alive in San Angelo and in the community.”
The Bentwood staff had no idea that the San Angelo club would win the USTA’s most prestigious facility award, which has gone to a West Texas club only one other time in the past 60 years, the Standard-Times reported,
“Sure enough, a month later we got a call from Todd Carlson, who is the USTA’s community service representative,” said Nagel. Carlson had recused himself from the vote because he knew the Bentwood folks personally, but he said, “Y’all still won,” Nagel reported.
A film crew from the Tennis Channel was recently in San Angelo to shoot a documentary on Bentwood that will be showcased during the U.S. Open, the Standard-Times reported,
“The director said he’s been doing this for 15 years and he’s never seen a community that was so well put together and how everybody seemed to work so well together,” Collins said. “And that’s what’s great about living in San Angelo. We’re able to do some things that maybe big cities can’t do.”
Collins and Nagel will make the trip to New York in September, the Standard-Times reported, and that’s when it will really sink in about how big of an award Bentwood has received.
“It’s almost going to be like ‘country boy goes to the city,’ ” Collins said. “I’m probably going to have a hard time not shedding a tear. It’s humbling that people would pay attention to little ol’ San Angelo, Texas.
“It’s going to be quite an honor.”
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.