USTA Florida Introduces First Managed Tennis Facility: Racquet Club of Cocoa Beach

USTA Florida will be launching a new era for Florida tennis on Dec. 1, 2017, as it officially takes over management and operations of the Racquet Club of Cocoa Beach. The club, which is a public, city-owned facility, is the first tennis facility in Florida to be managed by the new USTA Florida Tennis Management Division.

The agreement between USTA Florida and the City of Cocoa Beach provides the non-profit with the opportunity to run all tennis operations at the facility for the next three years.

“This facility has been very well run throughout it’s history. This was a case where the person running the facility was retiring,” said USTA Florida President Robert Hollis. “The timing was perfect for us to step in and offer the city a way to keep the facility running at a high level and make improvements that would bring more people in, without any cost to this community.”

As part of its agreement with the city, USTA Florida will hire a new director of tennis and a team of tennis professionals to run all tennis programs at the Racquet Club of Cocoa Beach. Job postings will be available at www.USTAFlorida.com/Jobs.

“The City of Cocoa Beach would like to welcome the United States Tennis Association-Florida Section to our community,” said Laird McLean, director of leisure services for the City of Cocoa Beach. “We look forward to adding them to our team as they work with the community to continue to provide a family-friendly facility.”

USTA Florida also will maintain a new, state-of-the-art website and social media channels for the Racquet Club to help the community stay connected and more easily find events and play opportunities. To connect with the club go to www.CocoaBeachRacquetClub.com.

“The bar is high for our tennis facilities,” said Frank Swope, director of tennis management for USTA Florida. “We will hire the best tennis professionals in the business, and we will train them to deliver programs the right way to serve every member of this vibrant community,”

USTA Florida will be hosting a Meet and Greet at the Racquet Club of Cocoa Beach on Dec. 6 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The goal of the meeting is to have an open dialog with the community — to share ideas, concerns and ask questions about the facility. USTA Florida expects to have all programs in place later in December and will kick off the New Year with a grand re-opening celebration on Jan. 6.

For details on the grand re-opening festival, and to register, go to www.cocoabeachtennisfestival.eventbrite.com.