Tennis in the Parks: Connecting with communities across New England

Running a local tennis program is all about building community, and that’s certainly what’s helping drive USTA New England’s highly successful Tennis in the Parks program. 

The program was first piloted in 2018 in Portland, Maine, and Manchester, N.H.—the two largest cities in each state, neither of which offered tennis programs to their communities at the time and hadn’t for several years prior. 

In Portland, the Tennis in the Parks program started with 58 participants; in Manchester, the initial program had 17 players. Last year, throughout New England, the section’s Tennis in the Parks program grew to nearly 4,500 players across 92 parks, and through just the first half of this year, nearly 3,300 participants had registered at 87 locations.

USTA New England’s Tennis in the Parks brings affordable, beginner-friendly tennis to local community parks. As the program’s tagline points out: “Tennis in the Parks: Our beginner programs where kids and adults play while they learn!”

Designed for players of all ages, Tennis in the Parks focuses on enabling participants to play tennis at their own level, while having fun doing it.

“I'm thrilled to see how the Tennis in the Parks program has grown since its inception and proud that we can provide access to high-quality and affordable local tennis programming,” says Eric Driscoll, Tennis in the Parks and Schools manager for USTA New England. “This program has been a dream come true for growing tennis at the grassroots.”

From 2018 through this spring, USTA New England has seen more than 18,000 Tennis in the Parks registrations. Each year, the Section has hired more and more providers for the program, and for this year anticipates hiring at least 130 coaches, offering high-quality instruction—which ties in nicely with the educational opportunities now offered by USTA Coaching. About a third of New England’s Tennis in the Parks coaches are USTA League or social league players, which helps in transitioning players to long-term play opportunities.

In New England, though, the Tennis in the Parks program is more than just a collection of increasing numbers. 

“This program is a team effort,” says Driscoll. “We couldn’t do it without the hard work by the USTA New England team, our fantastic coaches, and our recreation department and community-serving organizations.”

For instance, behind the Portsmouth, N.H., Tennis in the Parks program is a dedicated and passionate team—Daphne Rowe, Jill White, Abigail Mayrand and Jackie Brousseau—that has seen the program grow from eight players in 2020 to more than 230 last year.

“Tennis has brought a lot to my life,” says Rowe, a full-time tennis teaching pro who has coached a number of sports since she was 17. “I figured I’d give back and help other people experience that, too.”