Membership Details

Become a member! While there will be plenty of opportunities to play for free, to make court reservations, play in leagues, and bring guests, you need to be a member. 

Your membership will be activated whatever day you sign up and pay either the entire annual amount, or your first monthly installment…and will last for 365 days (except for Summer Trial Memberships, which begin on the later of June 1 or the date of purchase and end on Sept. 30 of the same year.)

Yes! Full year memberships are payable as a one time fee or monthly payments. Our Summer Trial Memberships are available as one time payments.

Our memberships are annual, except for Summer Trial Memberships, which are available for June 1st through September 30th.

No. As a member, you can reserve up to 2 courts per day, every day of the week, at no extra cost!

Making reservations for courts, clinics and socials can be done on a computer or by downloading the CourtReserve App.

There is a $10 charge for each guest on a reservation, with these charges billed to your credit card on file. If your game is rained out, you'll receive a credit on your Flats membership account to use for future guests. If your guest creates a free Guest account with us, guest fees can be charged to their credit card on file.

Members can book courts 7 days in advance, plenty of time to get out of going to dinner at your in-law’s.

There are loads of opportunities to meet other members! The Flats Platform Tennis Center is part of the Greater Cleveland Platform Tennis Association, with members eligible to play in all the Leagues (men’s, women’s, mixed). We also have weekly “Learn-to-Play” clinics, shot clinics, Newbie Days & Nights, and social events, like Friday Night Lights.

Yes, there will be scheduled times when non-members can show up and play. Part of the mission of the Cleveland Platform Tennis Foundation is to increase access to the game, so there will be some Free play times for non-members. However, non-members won’t have the ability to reserve a court, or choose who they’re playing with during our Free offerings. You'll also need a membership to have access to joining all the area leagues organized by the Greater Cleveland Platform Tennis Association.

Yep, anyone can join! You don’t need a sponsor and there’s no lengthy application process. All you need to do is choose either an individual or family membership, then your age will determine which price you qualify for. All memberships are handled through this website, where we accept either credit card or e-check payments. 

Good question! Over the past 3 years, the fundraising efforts of the Cleveland Platform Tennis Foundation have been devoted to building the Flats facility. Our Membership Dues will be used to fund the operating budget for the facility (these costs include: our monthly lease on the property, gas, electric, part time staffing and additional expenses.) It may be easier to compare us with a YMCA...we're both non-profits, but we both charge for memberships. Typically the cost of joining a YMCA is less than a private club or gym, just as we've tried to make our membership fee more affordable and easier to join than other private options in the area.

There are 3 critical pieces of equipment required: a paddle, a paddle ball and a pair of tennis shoes. For beginners who want to try it out, we'll have loaner paddles and used balls available on site.

The Flats Platform Tennis Center was developed through a volunteer board of the Cleveland Platform Tennis Center with the goal of increasing access to the sport of platform tennis, aka, paddle, and a big part of that is making sure we offer affordable memberships. In order to keep our membership dues low, we need to keep our operating budget low. We also want all our members to feel a sense of community and responsibility. To reach both of these goals, we’ll encourage a modest time commitment from each member of 8 service hours per year. We’ll have loads of ways for members to fulfill their service hours, through participation in our after-school youth mentoring program, assisting with some our our free programming, volunteering during tournaments, and cleaning and maintenance around the facility, just to name a few.

We're Open!  

We’re in the Flats. We’re the western-most paddle facility in Cleveland, ideal for people who live and work downtown, and west-siders, as well. Our facility is located on the grounds of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, at 1003 British St., Cleveland, OH 44113. We’re also across the parking lot from Merwin’s Warf restaurant.

6:00am - 10:00pm every day…the other hours are for sleeping.

The most fun game you’ll ever play. It’s a bit of tennis, racquetball and chess all mixed together. Think of shrinking a tennis court, putting it up on a deck surface (so the heaters below can melt the snow in the winter), then surrounding the whole thing with chicken wire. You can hit the ball off a bounce in the court, or off the wire screens. We play almost exclusively doubles, and it’s a great social game, but can be played competitively at all levels. It’s also a great mixed doubles game, because power doesn’t always win…it’s a game of strategy and finesse, where most of the time, the last person to touch the ball, loses the point. Here's some more info on the game.