I don’t play tennis at the Riverside Racquet Complex, and probably never will. But I would if I could.
If I hadn’t undergone a pair of knee-replacement surgeries last summer, and didn’t fear putting unnecessary wear and tear on the implants, I’d enjoy playing on hard courts again, getting predictable bounces and taking the ball on the rise and being able to hit more penetrating shots than I can on clay.
As much as I enjoy playing – as much fun as the folks seem to be having there, especially during the busy winter season – I might even write the $205 check to become a non-resident member at the 10-court facility, owned and operated by the city of Vero Beach.
I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy playing on these hard courts, built on the picturesque grounds of a tree-lined, waterfront park and maintained as if they belonged to a high-end, private club.
“They’re in great shape,” Riverside tennis supervisor Gaby Dwyer said. “Two of the courts, No. 4 and 5, were just resurfaced last week. The others were all resurfaced last year.”
For those who didn’t know: The St. Edward’s School boys and girls tennis teams practice on the Riverside Park courts and play their home matches there, too.
The courts are THAT good.
“The city has done a nice job there,” said Twin Oaks Tennis Club owner and head pro Alain Mignolet, who spent 17 years at the municipally owned North Miami Beach Tennis Center before moving to Vero Beach 20 years ago.
“The place is clean, the courts are well-kept and the lighting is pretty good,” he added. “It’s also very affordable, so I’m not surprised that a lot of people play there.”
And they do.
The complex currently has 87 annual members and five monthly members, but this is slowest time of the year.
Seasonal residents are back at their summer homes. Many year-round residents are away on vacation. Those left behind aren’t playing as much because the people they play with aren’t in town.
“It always drops off in the summer,” Dwyer said. “It’ll start picking up again in the fall, then get really busy in the winter.”
Throughout the winter months, in fact, when seasonal residents and visitors flock to our seaside slice of heaven, the Riverside courts are jam-packed every morning – to the point where there’s usually a wait list for the daily round-robin play, which is divided into two sessions beginning at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
“Only 40 at a time can play, and sometimes we’ve got 50 or 60 who want to, so we send some over to Pocahontas Park,” Dwyer said, adding that 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. is the most popular slot and Tuesdays and Thursdays are especially busy.
“We have a lot of regulars and even some regular groups,” she continued. “There’s one group that plays, then goes to Panera for coffee. There’s also a group that plays on Tuesday nights, then goes over to Kelley’s.”
The Tuesday-night, mixed-doubles group, now organized by Kathy Parker, has been going to the Irish pub in the Miracle Mile area for post-tennis libations for years.
“This is our weekly gathering,” Parker said.
Despite the better-than-you’d-expect lighting – there’s a light fee of $2 per person per hour per court, plus tax – most of the play at Riverside is during the daytime hours.
And you don’t need to be a member to play there: You can pay as you go at a cost of $5.25 for city residents and $7.25 for non-residents.
The pro shop is open from 8 a.m. to Noon Monday through Saturday; from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The complex also offers tennis lessons and clinics with teaching pro Ken MacDougall, as well as the use of ball machines.
When the pro shop is closed, the courts are open for free play, though special programs can sometimes supersede free-play times.
“I love playing here,” said Norris “Jack” Flach, a longtime Vero Beach resident who has been hitting tennis balls at the Riverside complex for more than a decade. “We have a fun group playing here, and you don’t have to be politically correct.
“It’s a source of many laughs.”
Though many of the players are age 50 and over – a time of life when some are dealing with sore knees, hips and backs – they don’t seem to mind playing on hard courts.
Some say they actually prefer the hard courts to the softer clay courts found at local tennis clubs.
“I think that’s a misunderstanding,” said Russ Zelko, a newcomer to the complex. “I don’t think it’s any harder to play on hard courts than it is to play on clay, where you have all that sliding around.”
Meg Clarke said she, too, prefers to play on the hard courts, even though she has had both knees replaced.
“This is a terrific place to play,” she said. “To have city courts in a location like this is a big plus for the community. I know it was a big draw for us when we were looking for places to move to.”
Through its daily round-robin sessions, Riverside also offers players opportunities to meet other players at their levels.
“You’re always meeting new people, and they come from all over the world,” said Patty Fiering, who organizes a women’s group that plays on Monday and Wednesday mornings. “During the winter, you can come out and have games set up for you. “Even if you don’t know anybody, you can still find a game.”
What’s ironic is that the Riverside complex seems to be flourishing at a time when local independent tennis clubs are struggling to sustain and grow their memberships.
Mignolet said there aren’t nearly as many tennis players here as there were in the 1980s and ’90s – or even five years ago – and that there aren’t enough of them to support all the local clubs, which also have the expense of maintaining clay courts.
“In the winter, Riverside is as busy as anybody,” Mignolet said. “It’s a lot more affordable than joining one of the private clubs, even the less-expensive ones. The memberships are cheaper, and you don’t have to be a member to play. They also get people who play only when it’s free.”
And if Riverside ever shut down? “Any time you have a public facility like that, it hurts the local clubs,” Mignolet said. “We’d all be better off if Riverside didn’t exist, because we’d all pick up some new members.
“For our club to pick up another 20 or 30 members would be a huge boost, if the Riverside people wanted to keep playing and were willing to pay more to play,” he added.
“But the city is providing a facility and service for the community, and that’s a good thing for the people who live here.”
Besides, some of those who play at Riverside also are members of private clubs. Others, particularly newcomers to Vero Beach, start playing on the city courts and eventually find their way to the local clubs.
“We like to say it starts in the park,” Dwyer said. “You meet people here and branch out from there.”
That’s how I started, playing every day on hard courts in a public park. But that was more than 30 years ago, when I still had my factory-installed knees.
Now, though, I play only on clay.
I have no choice.
I’d like these new knees to last at least 20 years, and I doubt that would happen if I played regularly at Riverside Park.
