Garage sale to benefit indoor tennis facility

The Class Act Family Fitness Tennis Facility in Jackson boasts the only indoor tennis courts between St. Louis and Memphis.

The facility, which is owned by Shawn McNally, is deeply appreciated by Donna Ryan and other members of the Cape Area Tennis Association who play during the winter months, so they have organized a fund raiser for today and Saturday.

"The tennis community would like to show its support for the indoor tennis facility, so we're going to have a garage sale to raise some money," said Ryan, a certified tennis professional who organizes tournaments at the facility.

Ryan said the indoor courts are important to area tennis.

"Right now the university tennis team practices in there on days like this, and we have tournaments in there about four times a year," Ryan said. "We have men's and women's tennis leagues and we have a lot of tennis players. We have tennis lessons that go on there."

Ryan estimated 20 to 30 families will donate items and time to the sale and silent auction, which will take place inside the facility. The facility hopes to purchase a heart defibrillator with a portion of the money raised.

"We would like to continue to give [McNally] this kind of miscellaneous kind of support whenever we can," she said.

The sale will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. today, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The facility is on Old Orchard Road, about 1 mile north of Jackson Boulevard.

Ryan said the courts are available for use by the public.

"We have lots of tennis players in town who go out on the outside courts, but they don't even realize we have an indoor facility that's open to the public," Ryan said.