Our Mission
We strive to provide everyone the opportunity to experience the game of tennis regardless of physical, financial or geographical barriers.
Our History
In 1967 a group of Midland Leaders came together with 54 objectives for what was needed to enhance the quality of life and bring more families to reside in Midland. All those objectives have been met with the exception of three: a zoo, a man-made lake and a community tennis center.
In a 2006 study, it was found that a city should have one tennis court for every 2,000 citizens (in addition to those owned by schools). A city the size of Midland should have had 55 public tennis courts by the year 2010.
In 1996, Jim Henry, then president of the Casa de Amigos board, worked with Lael Cordes-Pitts, Executive Director for Casa de Amigos and Luis Valdez, a local tennis pro, to form Reachout Tennis. At the same time, United States Tennis Association, United States Pros Tennis Association, United States Pros Registry and Tennis Industry Association approved a nationwide Tennis Blitz to help grow the game of tennis. Tennis associations from major cities throughout the United States from California to Florida and from New York to Texas applied for grants that would help grow the game of tennis. The Reachout Tennis Program with Casa de Amigos applied for The Tennis Blitz Grant and through several rounds of interviews received approval for the grant.
During that time, the staff at Casa de Amigos along with the director of Reachout Tennis came up with promotional events for the entire Permian Basin that would introduce tennis to thousands of youth and adults through events such as: Tennis Carnivals, Tennis Block Parties, Tennis School Assemblies and Tennis In-Services. They also developed tennis sessions with YMCA, Camp Fire, Greater Ideal Baptist Church, Boys and Girls Club, Hillcrest School, St. Ann's Catholic School and other community-based organizations in the area. It is estimated that nearly 15,000 students and their families have been served through these outreach programs. The individuals represent a broad range of ages, ethnicities, and geographic communities in a 250,000 square mile territory of West Texas with a population of 350,000.
At the same time that USTA was pushing to grow the game, Midland had lost 30 tennis courts. There were several reasons for the loss of those courts throughout the years, but plainly stated, there were not enough courts to host programs to continue the growth of tennis. This is when Jim Henry and a new group of Midland Leaders came together in November of 2004 and saw that there was still a need for a community tennis center. The board of Midland Tennis Center Inc. started working on ideas, what programs to promote, number of courts needed and layout of the proposed facility. In 2007 Midland Tennis Center Inc. received its 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
On October 17th, 2010 a public announcement was made presenting the new name "BUSH TENNIS CENTER" and logo. So the dream of 1967 became a reality on April 7th, 2013 when we held our Grand Opening Event! We have now accomplished the goal set 45 years ago.
We don't use tennis for the sport alone but as a vehicle to address the objectives of our mission.
