2019: An EF-3 tornado tore through North Texas, ravaging the school along its path of destruction. Tens of millions of dollars were needed in repairs. Almost every single building needed to have its roof replaced. Hundreds of trees were strewn all across campus. And specifically in the tornado’s wake was the Albert G. Hill Tennis Center — all eight courts were destroyed.
2022: Five of the tennis courts that had been made unrecognizable two years prior were temporarily resurfaced, but next to them stood the hollow remains of what was once Hicks Athletic Center.
2024: The final metal beams were raised into place as the Marksman Athletic Complex took form. But with the construction of the new athletic center, the tennis courts were torn down a second time.
2025: Six high-performance tennis courts now dot the far northeastern edge of the campus in a row. And with the completion of its construction, a new chapter in the school’s tennis history is ready to be opened.
The destruction of the tennis courts didn’t just leave a physical void on campus. For players and coaches alike, their normal routines had been completely disrupted. With no home courts to practice on, the team was forced to rely on off-campus facilities.
Since the temporary courts that were resurfaced during the 2022-2023 season needed to be removed to allow for the construction of the new complex, the tennis team’s practice schedule was significantly altered. The next season, practices were held at four different locations throughout the week — a scattered schedule that didn’t really allow the team to find consistency or a sense of normalcy.
“We sometimes had to drive to Brook Hollow, which was pretty far for most of us,” junior Kian Foshee said. “It’s about 20 minutes from St. Mark’s, and then around 45 minutes from my house. It was just a ton of driving that wasted a lot of time for me, and then I had school work and everything else to do later on that same day. And the only official practices were once a week at T Bar M. So sometimes, not everybody would show up, and I think that kinda changed the team environment.”
Without any courts available on campus last season, the reassuring feeling of a home court advantage also disappeared. For those home games that were supposed to be on campus courts, the team had to resort to other facilities, namely Hockaday and Brook Hollow Golf Club. But now, tennis players finally have their own place to train and perform.
“Having home courts, having practice 100 yards away instead of across town, is undeniably good for any team culture and team morale,” Hillier said. “We all kind of took it in stride, had some good laughs about the whole situation, but at the same time, we’re definitely thankful to not be doing that again this year.”
Especially with the addition of a sixth court to the previous temporary setup of five, Foshee believes that the new court will primarily be effective in spreading people out during tournaments, thus helping to alleviate crowding issues experienced in past years.
And for Hillier, the arrangement will allow for a new, electric environment to play in.
“The courts are gorgeous,” Hillier said. “They’re really great. The setup of two banks of three courts is also awesome for hosting, because there’s kind of like a home and away layout, so we’ll take these opposing teams, we’ll use those and then we’ll get to play each other on one more court than we had.”
