By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher
The Moore County Tennis Program’s brief history is packed with firsts.
In May 2023, just five years after MCHS founded the program, Audrey Harder made history when she headed to Murfreesboro as the first Moore County player ever to represent the school at the state tennis tournament. Two years later, she and her sister Anna made history again when they earned tennis scholarships to Freed-Hardeman University.
In 2024, Neal Childress advanced to state in boys singles — another first. In 2025, Childress and doubles partner Logan Trussell reached the state semifinals — the first state tournament win a Moore County doubles team had ever recorded.
Since the inception of the tennis program, Moore County has earned eight district team titles — four boys, and four girls. Five Raiderettes managed individual district championships, one girls region championship and one individual state appearance. The Raiders have five individual district championships under their belts, as well as two region championships with two state appearances.
Moore County Tennis is a deeply successful and beloved program. In fact, it’s so popular that this fall, for the first time in program history, they held tryouts to keep the overall numbers in check.
All of that success happened without the benefit of home courts.
CROWDED OUT, AGAIN
Raiders and Raiderettes Tennis has never had a court to call its own. When the program started in 2017-18, the team practiced at the Shelbyville Recreation Center— until Shelbyville Middle and Community started their own teams the following year and things got crowded.
“There were three teams on six courts, and we got the boot because we were out of county,” Moore County Tennis Head Coach Manny Buchanan says.
Lakewood Country Club took them in. The arrangement started informally: Moore County paid a fee to play, then traded labor for court time instead — filling cracks, painting the deck, replacing nets and benches with fundraising money.
“It was kind of like a handshake agreement,” says Buchanan.
That handshake held for years, until this past season, when Lakewood asked Moore County to sign a formal contract and pay to play. Buchanan agreed, hoping a contract would guarantee the team a permanent place to practice. Instead, two to three months later, Lakewood called to say they weren’t renewing it at all.
With 30 players each on Tullahoma’s middle and high school teams sharing four newly-resurfaced courts, Buchanan says the Wildcats were forced to split practices across Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday and still didn’t have enough time. According to Buchanan, Tullahoma’s middle school program will now hold its own contract with Lakewood in Moore County’s place.
At Monday night’s School Board meeting, member Kaleigh Hatfield informed the board that local students could no longer practice or host matches at Lakewood. Both Director Moorehead and multiple members expressed their concerns but took no formal action.
THE WISEMAN PARK OPTION
Moore County has tried to solve its court problem closer to home before. In 2020, the county — with the help of The Jack Daniel Distillery and the Fanning family — resurfaced two courts in Wiseman Park, and the tennis program used them — for a while.
But two courts aren’t enough to play a match. You need four courts for a standard high school match. Some programs, like Shelbyville, enjoy six. So Wiseman Park became a practice-only option with the middle school team planning to practice there this spring.
Even that isn’t reliable. The courts sit in a flood zone, and heavy rain — common in Lynchburg — leaves silt and dirt covering the left court after every storm. When that happens, the team is down to a single usable court until it dries out.
“It’s not the best situation,” Buchanan says.
With Lakewood gone and Wiseman Park unreliable, Buchanan says he’s currently reaching out to area facilities for a temporary home until a long term fix presents itself.
THE DREAM OF A HOME COURT
Buchanan’s real hope isn’t asphalt at Motlow — it’s courts at Moore County High School itself.
The obstacle? Funding.
There are no formal plans or bids circulating but a rough cost estimate for building new courts on campus would be $350,000 to $500,000, depending on whether the courts include lights. Buchanan says the dirt work to level the land would likely be the biggest cost. Tullahoma’s recent overhaul of its own four courts — including new fencing and lights — ran over $1 million, he says.
THE ROAD RAIDERS
If nothing changes by spring, Buchanan says there’s no plan to cancel or forfeit the season. The team will simply play every match on the road.
It wouldn’t be a new experience. Moore County has been practicing away from home for most of the program’s history — first at Shelbyville, then at Lakewood, now wherever nets and asphalt allow.
But Buchanan hasn’t given up on something else — another first.
“It’d be nice to have a home match, to have Senior Night in Lynchburg for the first time,” he says. “You know, it’d be cool.”•
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