Richland County Tennis Center

Richland County Tennis Center is a tennis court in Columbia, SC. It is part of the Richland County Recreation Commission, which was created by an act of the SC legislature in 1960 and began offering recreation to the unincorporated portions of the county under Commission Chairman Tom Linton. The Commission's stated mission is enriching lives and connecting communities through diverse recreational opportunities, and its programs and facilities are credited with creating healthy communities, reducing crime, attracting business, raising economic levels, increasing property values, and encouraging tourism.

The Commission's history runs through several name changes: legislation in 1960 set the stage for the Rural Recreation Commission in 1961, governed by a five-member Commission appointed by the Governor, with two additional members added in 1967, the year the first recreation Superintendent and administrative staff were hired. In June 1969 the term "rural" was dropped and the present names, the Richland County Recreation District and the Richland County Recreation Commission, were adopted. Linton served as Chair for 38 years.

The Commission has been named several times as a finalist for the National Recreation and Park Association's Gold Medal Award of Excellence, and was named the SC Recreation and Park Association's 2008 Agency of the Year. In October 2006 it became the first and only recreation agency in SC accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Recreation and Park Agencies, an independent evaluation against established benchmarks for delivering a high level of quality.

The center sits on Parklane Road, about a tenth of a mile from Joseph Keels Elementary School and Richland Library Northeast, and roughly half a mile from the I. DeQuincey Newman Freeway. Springwood Lake is about four tenths of a mile away.

For Columbia players, the center carries the weight of a county recreation agency that has been running programs since the 1960s and holds the state's only CAPRA accreditation.

Services:

• Community Events Coordination
• Facility Rentals
• Tennis Center Operations
• Youth Athletic Programs