Serve an Ace or Smack a Winner at the Public Tennis Parks in Marshall, Missouri

If you're an avid tennis player and ever make your way to Marshall, Missouri, a tiny town of approximately 13,000 that rests one hour east of Kansas City and two and a half hours west of St. Louis, you'll find the small city has two fairly solid places to play tennis.

I'll start with the court that I generally play on, mostly because of its close proximity to the local Salt Fork YMCA, a spectacular family exercise facility that I practically live at when I'm not on court.

Marshall's Indian Foothills Park features six tennis courts that are in fairly decent condition, but are often occupied by the Missouri Valley College tennis team which uses the public facility as its place of practice during the school year from approximately 3 PM to 5 PM on weekdays.

While Missouri Valley's head coach, Ryan Carney, is always gracious about leaving at least one court open for locals to play on during practice time, I'll be totally honest and admit that it's much simpler for a group of four or more to either play before or after the college finishes with its usual thorough practice sessions.

One good thing about Missouri Valley College using the park's public courts for practice is that newer players should be able to improve their respective games in some area, by watching some of the skilled college players at the school or by asking Carney, who was very instrumental with helping me improve, some tennis-related questions when the opportunity presents itself, usually before or after Valley's practices.

The park doesn't have benches for all of its courts - and I don't know why - so be prepared to bring one of those fold-up, chair-in-a-bag items that are sold all over the country for about $10.

Courts No. 1 through 4 have been maintained a bit better than courts five and six which are set apart from the other fours courts, and often get plenty of leaves during the fall because of area trees, but all six courts are respectable at the very least.

During the summer, when college is out, all six Indian Foothills courts are available from sun up until sun down except for a two-week period when the local park hosts a youth tennis camp during the morning hours prior to noon.

Marshall's 'other' tennis courts, which were resurfaced just over a year ago, are located on the campus of the city's only high school and are clearly in better condition than those at the local park, all the way around from its surface to its nets.

The six-court high school facility features three 'North' courts and three 'South' courts, but beware, that while all the courts have been resurfaced one of the South courts is clearly in bad condition with visible cracks and holds a ton of water after a recent rain while one of the other 'South' courts isn't in much better condition.

Still, the facility is a wonderful place to play tennis when the often uncooperative Midwest weather permits of course.

Another good thing about playing tennis at either of Marshall's two tennis playing facilities is that there are only a handful of area players that play on a regular basis, so finding an open court should be no problem.

Excluding myself and my family, my 'unofficial coach' Rick Clinch and a phenomenal new tennis-playing family that moved to the area from Florida, Sam and Rola Alhamzawi and their two sons, Adbul and Jalal, not many people in Marshall, Missouri, play tennis very often.

Still, Marshall, Missouri offers some serious relaxation being away from the rigors of life in the 'Big City' in addition to its excellent opportunities to get on the tennis court at either Indian Foothills Park or Marshall High School virtually any time.