San Francisco’s public tennis courts belong to all of us — they’re built and maintained with our tax dollars. Yet today, only instructors licensed through a single private vendor’s program may teach lessons on them. Independent coaches, including longtime neighborhood pros, are prohibited from teaching on public courts, and ordinary court reservations explicitly ban any lessons or clinics.

The result:

1. Fewer choices and higher prices for residents. With instruction funneled through one program at roughly 20 parks during limited hours, lesson supply is artificially scarce. Families who can’t get a slot — or can’t afford one — are out of luck.
2. Local coaches locked out of public spaces. Independent instructors, many of them small-business owners who have taught in our neighborhoods for years, cannot legally earn a living on the city’s own courts unless they join a single company’s platform on its terms.
3. Underused courts. Courts sit empty during hours when willing coaches and eager students could be using them.

We are not asking the City to abandon oversight. Background checks, insurance, and fair scheduling rules are reasonable. What’s unreasonable is granting one vendor an effective monopoly over who may teach tennis on public land.

We call on SF Rec & Park to:

1. Create an open, low-cost annual teaching permit available to ANY qualified coach who passes a background check and carries liability insurance — with no requirement to operate through an exclusive third-party platform.
2. Expand permitted instruction beyond the current ~20 pilot parks to all reservable public courts.
3. Set transparent, fair rules for instructional hours so coaching never crowds out free public play.

Cities across the country allow permitted independent instruction on public courts. San Francisco — a city that prides itself on supporting small businesses and equitable access to recreation — should not be the exception.

More coaches means more lessons, lower prices, busier courts, and more kids and adults falling in love with the game. Sign this petition to tell SF Rec & Park: open our public courts to all qualified coaches.