One of the questions I hear most often from parents new to the area is some version of this: “Where can my kid actually play tennis in Sarasota without joining a club?” It’s a fair question, and the answer is better than most people expect.
I’m Michael Boothman, a USPTA Elite Professional with 30+ years of coaching experience, and I’ve made a deliberate choice to run SRQ Tennis programs on public park courts rather than inside private clubs. That decision surprises some people. It shouldn’t. Sarasota’s public courts are one of the most underrated resources for junior development in Florida, and after three decades of coaching in clubs, academies, and parks, I can tell you the surface a kid learns on matters far less than the environment around it.
Why public courts, on purpose
Let me get the obvious objection out of the way first: no, public parks don’t have a pro shop, a restaurant, or a fleet of ball machines. What they do have is open access, no membership fees, and — this is the part people miss — a steady supply of other kids and adults who just want to play tennis.
That last point connects directly to one of the Six Pillars I coach by: Live Ball Is the Method. Real improvement comes from real rallies — a ball that arrives with spin, pace, and unpredictability, hit by another human being who is trying to win the point. Fed balls and machines have their place for introducing a movement, but they can’t replicate the decision-making demands of an actual rally. A public park full of players at mixed levels is, frankly, a live-ball laboratory. A junior who spends an hour rallying with a parent, a sibling, or the retired 4.0 player on the next court is getting exactly the kind of varied, unpredictable practice that motor learning research says drives skill that holds up in matches.
Clubs can offer that too. But parks offer it for free, every day, with no gatekeeping. For a family deciding whether tennis is going to be their kid’s sport, that accessibility is everything.
The courts I use and recommend
Potter Park is home base for our 10 & Under program. The courts are well maintained, the location works for families coming from a wide stretch of Sarasota, and the park setting means siblings have somewhere to be while a lesson runs. If you have a player aged ten or under, this is where I’d start — both for organized coaching and for casual weekend hitting.
Pineview is where our Youth Development group trains in the evenings. The slightly later time slot (6:00–7:30 PM) suits middle schoolers, and the courts handle the Florida heat better once the sun drops. For 11- to 14-year-olds building toward competitive play, evening sessions on these courts are a solid rhythm: school, homework, tennis, dinner.
Beyond the courts where I coach, Sarasota County maintains public courts across the area, and most are first-come, first-served. If you’re new to town, the USTA facility locator is a genuinely useful tool — type in a Sarasota zip code and you’ll find more public options than you probably expected.
What to actually do at a public court (a coach’s checklist)
Showing up is step one. Here’s how I’d structure a family hit so it builds skill instead of just burning an hour:
- Start short. Both players inside the service boxes, rallying gently. Count consecutive balls. A 20-ball rally from short court is worth more than 20 minutes of baseline moonballs.
- Pick one target. Lay a towel crosscourt and try to land 8 out of 10 balls past the service line and toward it. Specific numbers beat vague intentions — a kid who knows they hit 6 out of 10 today has something concrete to beat on Thursday.
- Play points that reward placement. First to 7, but a ball that lands in the back third of the court counts double. Rules like this teach juniors that where the ball goes matters more than how hard it travels.
- End with serves. Ten serves to each box, counting makes. Write the number down. Next visit, try to beat it.
None of this requires a coach standing there. It requires a bucket of balls, a target, and a willingness to count honestly.
What parks teach that lessons can’t
There’s a developmental ingredient that organized lessons — mine included — can’t fully provide: ownership. A junior who texts a friend, bikes to the park, and organizes their own sets is building something a scheduled lesson never quite touches. They’re learning that tennis belongs to them, not to their calendar.
Some of the best competitive juniors I’ve coached over 30 years had one thing in common: unstructured court time. Not more lessons. More play. Sarasota’s public parks make that possible in a way that pay-per-hour club courts simply don’t, because nobody is watching the clock.
Where coaching fits in
I’ll be honest about the limits of park tennis too: unstructured play builds love for the game and competitive instincts, but it won’t fix a grip that breaks down under pressure or teach a reliable serve on its own. That’s where structured coaching earns its keep — small groups (I cap mine at 6 players, no exceptions), clear targets, and progress you can measure in numbers rather than feelings.
The combination is the point. Coached sessions to build the skill, park time to make it yours. If you want to see how I structure that coached side — programs, group sizes, and what a typical session looks like — the details are on my coaching page.
In the meantime: grab a racquet, grab your kid, and go claim a public court this weekend. The nets are up, the lights work, and the price is right.
See you on the court — and maybe at the park.
Coach Michael Boothman Sarasota, FL · michael@srq.tennis · 941-239-4703