Holding court: bringing baby boomers back to public tennis courts could be as easy as changing your surfacing

Parks & Recreation, Nov, 2004 by Ron Woods

So there is a whole new market out there for tennis--and it's people just like you and me: a little older, a little wiser, but anxious to fashion a healthy lifestyle for our next 25 years. We've got time. Our careers are winding down. We've got money, in fact 70 to 80 percent of savings accounts in the United States are held by the 50-plus crowd.

And, there is just so darn many of us--more than 75 million out of a population of 280 million. In the next five years, the population of those under 55 will grow by just one percent while the 55-plus population will grow by 74 percent, according to Sandy Coffman, board member of the International Council on Aging and expert in 50-plus programming. You just can't afford not to actively recruit us for your park programs.