Indians turn on the lights

By Robert Sisk

Published: April 22, 2008

FORT DEFIANCE — They are just lights sitting on top of a hill at S.G. Stewart Middle School that illuminate fenced in tennis courts, but to Fort Defiance girls tennis coach John Edgecomb and the rest of the Indian tennis program they are beacons, a sign of years of work.
“What it does is it offer the community a place were parents and children can come out and do something and brothers and sisters can come out and do something and do it after normal work hours,” Edgecomb said.
On Tuesday the Indians held their official lighting ceremony, a hour before earning a 7-2 win over Robert E. Lee, cutting a blue and white ribbon that wrapped around the light switch.
The lights have been in use since the beginning of the 2008 season. The brief ceremony held Tuesday was a time to recognize the efforts from a group of volunteers, athletes, donors and county officials that helped secure the Indians a lighted court to play on.
“I don’t think that anyone realized how many moving parts there are to getting something like this done.” Edgecomb said during a brief speech.
Fort Defiance principal Larry Landes and Augusta County Administrator Larry Howdyshell cut the ceremonial ribbon.
The Fort Defiance girls team raised $3,000 of the money used in the $13,200 project with additional contributions coming from several businesses and the Fort Defiance Sportsman Club. The Indians also put time in digging ditches for the underground wiring.
“Several of my players talked about how you start the season in daylight savings so you are in darkness and just talking with the parents we thought we could go though a volunteer and community effort to get the lights up,” Edgecomb said.
Dominion Power volunteered trucks and manpower to put the poles in the ground.
“You had a group of about 12 men from Dominion Power that gave up a weekend and came the weekend after all those storms and everyone was without power. It was that next weekend and they came out here,” Edgecomb said. “They didn’t get any time off.”
After the ceremony, the Indians took to the court to take on the Lee Ladies. Both teams were undefeated in the Southern Valley district.
The match started close with all the contests one game apart, but the Indians pulled away in the later stages to pick up the win.