The recent opening of Houston’s new space ends a long desire for the ability to hold workouts without a dependence on the weather in rainy spring months when the softball season is held.
“They asked what I wanted and they really delivered,” Coach Christian Jackson said smiling. “They went above and beyond all expectations. This is nicer than my DI college (Tennessee Tech).”
For decades, the softball team relied on good weather or the ability to use the baseball team’s practice area in the case of inclement weather. But sharing the space with the baseball team when it rained could mean practice at 6 a.m. or not at all.
With the new facility, they can have practice after school, rain or shine.
“To be able to have this is essential at this point,” Jackson said, adding “baseball has been really kind to us.”
The new softball complex has an indoor turf room. If a team wanted to rent out the facility during the off-season, a window from Jackson’s office allows the coach to still be aware of who’s in the facility. One staff person must be in the building when the facilities are in use.
The renovations to the campus also have added a field dedicated for softball. Previously, the team played across Wolf River Boulevard at Grace Evangelical Church. However, they weren’t able to hang their banners long-term because it was a shared space. In 2020, the city gave Germantown Municipal School District one of the softball fields at Houston Levee Park and it was adjusted to meet TSSAA regulations.
“It’s nice to be able to show people,” said junior Maci Frederick. “l feel like people will take us more seriously now that we have a facility and field. It’s nice to have something to call our own, be able to have a home-field advantage.”
The home bullpen is shaded and has large fans so pitchers are more comfortable as they warm up. The visiting team’s bullpen is not shaded, nor are there fans.
The weight room has two large televisions so players can watch film or play music as they work out. The weights, medicine balls, rowers and other equipment were specifically chosen for softball training.
The new complex also has a laundry room. Previously, each athlete was responsible for her own uniforms.
Some of Jackson’s players have pursued college softball aspirations. Now, Houston is on par with other districts, and she hopes more of her players can pursue softball after they leave Germantown.
“I preach to them ‘Once a Mustang, always a Mustang,’ so the hope is to have them — even as they play in college — come back in the summers. Then they’re able to help keep our culture going in the direction it’s going while getting their work in as well,” Jackson said.
The suburb’s Board of Education picked Grinder Taber & Grinder to construct the new facility in August 2021, after the plans received necessary city approvals.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Ryan Strain, GMSD board chairman, said of the new softball home. “It’s collegiate level. It really gives the team the space to grow and meet their full potential, and I’m just glad to have a space that is built upon their history and allows them to move forward.”
An issue for more than three decades
Houston High opened in 1989. The lack of softball facilities was an issue Germantown Municipal School District inherited from Shelby County Schools. Before GMSD voted to move forward with the complex, the cry from softball players and parents was persistent.
When Superintendent Jason Manuel talked of the need for a facility he said it was a “Title IX issue staring (GMSD) in the face.” Baseball had its own facility south of the Houston High parking lot, but softball would practice at Houston Levee Park.
“We’re righting a long wrong,” Emily Hume, GMSD communications specialist, said on a recent tour of the complex.
The complicated land swap
The school district wanted to acquire one of the fields at Houston Levee Park for the softball complex, but the city had its own desires. It wanted land behind Forest Hill Elementary for a natural resource area and a water tower — 15 acres to be exact.
Homebuilder John Duke also had plans to build homes to the north of the elementary school, and he wasn’t pleased by the location of the water tower for future homeowners. So he asked the city to reconsider. In the end, he got 3 acres from the northeastern corner of Forest Hill Elementary. The city received 12 acres of the elementary school property, and 5 acres from Duke — some parkland and the newly constructed water tower’s location.
If the school district needs to expand and has no other option but to expand Forest Hill Elementary, the city will give the eastern acreage back to the school district at no cost. However, the district will soon acquire Germantown Elementary and Germantown Middle as part of legislation and an agreement that forces Memphis-Shelby County Schools out of its suburban buildings.
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