Letters From the Trenches: People, Parks, and Tennis

People, Parks and Tennis

In last month’s article written by Gary Horvath, he showed an incredible stat on where people are playing tennis. Here is a recap of the TIA 2024 numbers: 70% of all participants play at 1) public parks (42%) 2) recreation centers (12%) and 3) schools/colleges (16%). What can we do as an industry across the board to support and improve tennis in these key locations?

There are several factors that need to be recognized first before talking about ways to successfully reach out to these players. The first is that individual parks and recreation departments across the country as well as in various regions differ in how they approach tennis. Here are the three types of operations that are used:

1. Some of them hire independent contractors to run set classes. In this approach, they take care of all registrations and usually pay a percentage of the gross revenue of the class a month after the class is over.

2. In this scenario the parks and recreation departments will take an entire tennis facility and put it out to bid as a concession. In this case, the concession operator controls the programs and normally hires coaches as independent contractors to run the programs. The concession operator pays a percentage to the city, having to meet a minimal amount of revenue per month.

3. The last option is a concession as above, but the operator doesn’t get access and control of the entire facility, but instead is given only 1-4 courts on which to offer programs. In this situation, the concessionaire still has to pay a percentage to the city while meeting a minimal amount per month.

In just a 60-mile radius of Los Angeles, all three of these models are in use.

The industry needs to look at how it can support not only parks and recreation departments, but the coaches that have been teaching there. Here are a few suggestions:

A. Building A Relationship Over the decades no one until recently has even bothered to reach out to the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA). All of our organizations (TIA, USTA, USPTA, and PTR) need to build partnerships with NRPA. The goal of this is to help them understand our sport and how tennis can bring people in the community together to enhance the quality of life for everyone. In addition to the NRPA, each State has its own organization. Each section of the USTA and USPTA is well suited to build relationships to further education for recreation directors and staff on how to deliver tennis programs to everyone regardless of age and disability.

B. Support Those coaches who teach on municipal courts are running a wide range of programs in parks. They will often be limited in trying new or different programs due to the cost of start-up. Even when they want to offer a free event the majority of parks & recreation departments will still charge the pros court fees. This severely restricts what pros can do since they are asked to give their time and yet still have to pay money to conduct the events. It’s easy to say “get parks & rec to sponsor it”, but they say, “no.” It would be helpful if the industry would get behind coaches in the parks and help cover costs so more people in the community would be able to play tennis.

C. Respect In all the years I have been coaching on municipal courts, there has been a continuous problem of non-certified coaches occupying a space and conducting business in that space without permission. Also known as ”squatting” this practice puts the public and the city at great liability risk. In addition, the city makes no money for the court. This is really unfair to those pros who, in addition to running their own lessons/clinics legally, then have to deal with illegal users posing as verified pros. These squatters defy ethical behavior, deceive the public, and take business away from bona fide pros. Parks and recreational personnel have little or no enforcement capability, putting legitimate coaches in a compromised situation on the court when challenged by illegitimate coaches and misled consumers.

In an attempt to cut costs and keep lessons affordable for the public, parks and recreation departments inadvertently reduce the experience pool of coaches they hire, potentially lowering the quality of instruction they offer and diminishing the incentive for experienced pros to devote their time and effort to municipal programs. 

Furthermore, parks and recreation employees have little or no tennis experience so they are often unqualified to make responsible organizational decisions, and sometimes fail to recognize the expertise of those teaching pros who do have commendable qualifications. This makes conducting effective programs very challenging.

Finally, and most disturbingly, displaced persons increasingly inhabit spaces for sanitation and shelter in public places close to tennis facilities, putting staff and the public in awkward and sometimes potentially dangerous situations, which municipal employees and law enforcement are not adequately prepared to resolve.

It’s time that the tennis industry supports those who are in the trenches growing the game on Parks and Recreation courts. Together we can grow the game.