decaturdaily
HARTSELLE aA Nolan Sparks has become a top high school tennis player, and he can thank his grandmother for getting him started in the sport.
Lavonda Sparks first got granddaughter Caroline Sparks interested in tennis, and Nolan soon followed.
Lavonda, when visiting from Muscle Shoals, would take her two grandchildren and another future member of Hartselle Highas tennis team to the cityas old courts near J.P.
Cain Stadium.
The lines on the courts had faded, according to Brandon Sparks, Nolanas father.
aShead draw lines on there and theyad play,a Brandon said.
aShe would take them over there after school.
Sometimes it was before the football games, and people would be parking all around them.a Eventually Nolan entered a tournament, and it turned out well.
aLow and behold, this is his sport,a Brandon said.
This spring as a Hartselle High freshman, Nolan Sparks won the No.
2 singles championship in the Class 6A, Section 7 tournament for the second straight year and teamed with Reid Collins to win the sectionas No.
1 doubles draw.
Sparks, The Decatur Daily All-Area Player of the Year in boys tennis, also went 16-0 in regular-season singles matches.
Hartselle coach Chris Pressnell said Sparks has worked hard to improve his game with an eye toward competing in college.
aNolan plays all the time.
Heas driven,a Pressnell said.
aHe really wants to play at a higher level of tennis.
And he knows in order to do that heas going to have to play a lot.a Sparks runs for 30 minutes four times a week, takes tennis instruction and hits with his father, who played receiver and kicker for Russellville High and then walked on at Alabama in the late 1990s.
aHis dad, having played sports and athletics, knows what it takes to be an athlete at the higher level,a Pressnell said.
aIf you want to do that, thereas a commitment that comes with it.
His dadas out here regularly with him at the courts.a Brandon said heall help as long as his son wants.
aI ask him every day does he still want to do it because itas a big commitment," the elder Sparks said.
"You got to live and breathe it.
The minute he doesnat want to do it, weall back off.
The younger Sparks said he used to play soccer, basketball and baseball before finding his athletic niche.
aTennis stuck out to me the most,a he said.
aMaybe because itas fast-paced.a His sister Caroline will be a senior on Hartselleas tennis team next season.
She was sectional champion this spring at No.
3 singles.
She and Lily Reese won the section at No.
1 doubles and were state runner-up a year after winning state at No.
2 doubles.
In addition to her two grandchildren, Lavonda Sparks also played a part in introducing tennis to Nolan's double partner Collins, who was recovering from an injury this year after winning the section No.
1 singles title in 2025.
It's quite a Hartselle tennis heritage for Grandmother Sparks..