By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – Thursday, Sept. 24 marked the culmination of over a year’s worth of work as Briarwood Christian School officially opened its new tennis complex as members of the tennis team, parents, school administrators, coaches and others gathered at the new facility to celebrate.

Briarwood is expanding its school and putting in a new science wing, which meant the old tennis courts had to be removed to make room for the new addition, creating the perfect opportunity to invest in a new tennis facility.

“This has been basically a year-long project,” Briarwood assistant tennis coach and radio personality Bill “Bubba” Bussey of the Rick and Bubba Show said on Sept. 24. “The way the designs were drawn up (for school expansion) we had to tear up the old tennis courts.”

The new tennis complex, which includes eight new regulation sized tennis courts, is located on school property adjacent to the baseball field. The money for the project was raised in part by private donations, but the school footed the majority of the cost.

A number of Briarwood school administrators and boosters were present, including high school principal Shawn Brower and head football coach Fred Yancey, who both spoke to the future of the complex and the school itself.

“This is another placed for Christian community to happen,” Brower said to the crowd gathered.

Alabaster’s Noah Galloway, most recently of “Dancing with the Stars” fame, was also on hand and spoke about the important role physical activity plays in the role of young people’s lives.

“What you do for your children, you have no idea how it will affect them later in life,” Galloway said. “What challenges they face and what they will go through, they will resort back to what they were taught later in life at a young age.”

“This is a great effort here,” Bussey said as well. “We’ve got what I think may be the finest on-site facility of any high school in the state. God really showed out in this whole project, and we think it’s going to be a blessing not only to the kids but to the community too.”