What began with four tennis courts has grown well beyond the lines painted on them.

On summer Wednesday mornings, nearly 50 children fill the courts at Valley Royale in Lehighton, some learning the basics of a forehand or backhand, others building on skills developed over previous summers.

On Friday nights, high school players from around the area come together for drills, matches and pizza.

There are middle schoolers getting their first sustained introduction to the sport. College players returning to compete and teach. Adults arriving early in the morning for cardio tennis and longtime players rediscovering a game they once played at the same property when it was known as the Maple Tree.

And increasingly, tennis isn’t staying at Valley Royale at all.

Rackets, foam balls and portable nets are being packed up and taken into schools, community events and youth organizations as the Valley Royale Foundation continues trying to make the sport easier to find — and easier to try.

That outreach has taken on added importance as public tennis courts have disappeared from parts of the area in recent years, including in Lehighton and Weissport. With fewer places available for people to pick up a racket and play, preserving access to remaining courts — and connecting people with opportunities to use them — has become another piece of growing the sport locally.

“Inviting people here into our space is one thing, but we also want to reach people on their own terms,” Valley Royale owner Jenn Everett Lux said.

That approach has helped Valley Royale expand its reach while strengthening relationships with coaches, schools, players and organizations throughout the area.

The former Maple Tree Inn property reopened as Valley Royale in 2020. Two years later, the Valley Royale Foundation was created with a mission of providing free and accessible opportunities for children to discover a sport they can potentially play for the rest of their lives.

Six years into Valley Royale’s rebirth, those efforts are increasingly connected.

Creating a pathway

Tennis can present barriers for someone who has never played.

Equipment is needed. So is a place to play. And unlike sports with established youth leagues and feeder systems throughout the area, the path into tennis isn’t always obvious.

Valley Royale and its Foundation have worked to create more entry points.

The Foundation can help grade schools apply for free tennis equipment through USTA Net Generation and connect physical education teachers with tennis instruction. Volunteers conduct after-school clinics, while portable equipment allows the Foundation to take the sport into schools, community events and youth organizations.

Sometimes, the first step is simply getting a racket into someone’s hands.

Jim Thorpe tennis coach Emilio Mercado has seen the excitement that can create while volunteering at Valley Royale.

“Volunteering at the club has been refreshing and fulfilling, and seeing young kids run around getting excited to hit a ball really pushes that,” Mercado said.

If something clicks, Valley Royale wants there to be somewhere to go next.

An introduction at school or a community event can lead to an after-school clinic, the annual Kids Tennis Carnival or the Foundation’s summer camp.

Participation in the beginner-friendly camp for children in grades 3-8 has grown from roughly 30 in its first year to about 40 last summer and nearly 50 this year.

Many keep coming back.

That progression is part of what Lux hopes to establish — not simply introducing children to tennis, but providing opportunities to continue playing as they grow.

The connections with local school programs have become increasingly important.

Tamaqua girls tennis coach and Valley Royale Foundation board member Kathy Odorizzi pointed to Friday Night Live as one example. Held monthly from spring through fall, it brings local high school players together for drills, match play and pizza.

“As a high school tennis coach, it is invaluable to have the expertise of the Valley Royale staff to help my girls improve their skills and to grow as players,” Odorizzi said. “Valley Royale gives them another outlet to play the sport that they enjoy with their peers. The environment at Valley Royale is always fun and welcoming.”

At Lehighton, first-year coach Andrew Hozza worked with Valley Royale to establish a middle school clinic this spring for students in grades 5-8. About 15 players participated each week, with high school players also helping.

“They even encouraged, helped, and supported me in creating a middle school tennis clinic,” Hozza said. “The middle school clinic went so well that we plan on bringing it back next year as well.”

For Hozza, the collaboration showed what can happen when those connections are in place.

“They want to help grow the sport in the area and are doing a wonderful job with it by providing all ages a chance to play,” he said.

Staying in the game

Those opportunities don’t stop with the school year.

Valley Royale has fielded two teams in a winter USTA junior league each of the past two years, drawing players from Jim Thorpe, Tamaqua, Lehighton and beyond.

The seven-week program begins in January, providing competitive court time during a part of the year when outdoor opportunities are limited. Valley Royale hopes to expand to three teams this winter and add practices.

Mercado sees Junior Team Tennis as particularly valuable for teenagers, an age group he believes can be difficult to attract to the sport.

“The club even offers junior team tennis, so high schoolers of any skill level can meet their peers and possibly develop new friendships and maybe find a training partner,” Mercado said.

For Lux, it is another link in the chain — a chance to keep players involved beyond a camp, clinic or high school season.

And there is growing evidence of where that pathway can lead.

Sam Lux, a former Jim Thorpe player and coach, has watched the local tennis community develop from several perspectives.

“You can clearly see the growth of the game in our area both in the number of kids playing tennis and the level of tennis being played,” he said.

Lehighton’s Bekim Cokrlija was named the Times News Boys Tennis Player of the Year this spring after his brother Bayto earned the honor in 2024 and 2025. Both have remained connected to Valley Royale.

Jim Thorpe graduate Keira Reese is continuing her tennis career at Lebanon Valley College, while Lehighton graduate Isaac Carpenter continues to play at Marywood University.

Gavin Labbadia, entering his senior year at Moravian University, has become part of that cycle in another way. In addition to winning both singles and doubles titles at this year’s Valley Royale Open, he serves as an instructor for the Foundation’s Kids Tennis Camp and provides private lessons at the club.

The Valley Royale Open itself has grown into another point of connection. This year’s tournament attracted players from Carbon County, the Lehigh Valley, Stroudsburg, Scranton and Quakertown and raised nearly $2,000 for the Foundation and its youth tennis programs.

East Stroudsburg University head coach Troy Haas reached the men’s singles final after Jenn Lux personally contacted college programs throughout the region to invite coaches and players.

Sam Lux also credits Valley Royale head instructor and longtime Jim Thorpe coach Norb Lienhard and members of the Foundation for helping foster that growth.

For Lux, tennis has always offered something beyond wins and losses.

“It’s always been a game that I’ve enjoyed, and it has also opened a lot of doors and opportunities for me,” he said. “So it feels very special to be able to introduce and share the game with our community — and hopefully it can have the same positive impact for some of these kids as they navigate through life as it did for me.”

A place to return

That pathway doesn’t necessarily end when someone’s high school or college career does.

Weekly programming at Valley Royale includes Team Tennis, a singles ladder, cardio tennis and a Friday morning social, along with clinics, lessons and other events throughout the season.

Mercado sees the social side of the sport among the adults he plays with there.

“Everyone was very competitive, but we still knew that at the end of the day, it’s a fun game to play with each other and to catch up and chat,” he said.

Former Maple Tree players have also begun returning to the courts decades after they first played there, while people who joined Valley Royale after it reopened continue to come back.

Lux hopes the facility can grow into a tennis destination — somewhere local players can develop at a high level while remaining part of a larger community.

But growth isn’t measured only by the caliber of competition.

Sometimes it’s much simpler.

“I just want to continue to see this place being a living and breathing place,” she said. “I love it when people say, ‘Oh, I drove by and the courts were filled.’ That’s exactly what brings me joy.”

For Lux, that connection carries a particularly personal meaning.

Before returning home and purchasing the property, she worked in the technology industry in San Francisco and felt disconnected from the kind of community she was craving.

Rebuilding a tennis club, starting a nonprofit and learning how to create effective community outreach hasn’t always been easy.

But six years later, that community has gradually formed around the place she came home to rebuild.

People who joined Valley Royale in its earliest days remain. New players arrive. Former Maple Tree members return. Coaches collaborate. Kids come back summer after summer.

And Valley Royale continues going outward to find others.

For the children spending their Wednesday mornings on the courts, Lux hopes Valley Royale eventually becomes something else, too.

A piece of growing up here.

“I want to be the place that people look back on as part of how they spent their summers in their hometown,” she said. “And I want to be a part of that story, because that’s what this place was to me, is to me.”

It’s a network that continues to branch outward.

Schools. Coaches. Community organizations. College programs. Kids picking up a racket for the first time and longtime players picking one up again.

The goal isn’t simply to tell people tennis is available and wait for them to arrive.

It’s to take the game to them. Give them an opportunity to try. Show them where they can go next.

And, if they fall in love with it, make sure there’s a place for them to keep coming back.

So many of those branches eventually lead back to the same four courts.

And increasingly, they’re full.