Shenandoah Park — Attraction in Miami

Alright, saying right now I'm not a fan of going to parks or places like these, but I'll be as honest as can be.

Location: it's situated close enough to schools so kids can come by and have fun here after or during school, if their school does such a thing. Enough parking all around the place so there's no problem there.

Visual appeal: not bad. Green grass to run upon, sand pit for playing volleyball on, carpeted area for kids to not hurt themselves much on, a swimming pool in the far end, basketball courts on the other end. There's certainly a variety of things to do here. The problems I have is that it certainly has sunk a little. By that I mean there's sometimes little pits you wouldn't obviously see and you can trip on and hurt yourself. Sand pit has the same problems, except sometimes bugs enjoy crawling out of it and biting you (which I had happen three times) the pool sometimes can use some maintenance as well, sometimes it's good enough to swim in, but other times it looks gross and you just rather not deal with it.

Miscellaneous stuff: Things you can most definitely do here is jogging, baseball, basketball, tennis, swimming, basic exercise, and kids activities to boot. What does sort of bother me and many other people as well, is that there is a rec center in the park but it hardly ever opens to the public. I only ever recall going in once with over 50 visits to the park. And while I understand park security is important, they've taken to locking the bathroom doors. Now that isn't a problem in itself, it's the fact that you never find the person who has the keys to get in, in the first place, so bathroom business is usually best to take...

Good luck using the soccer facilities at this park. Every time I go with my kids to kick a ball around we are told to leave. The first time we were told to leave by a guy in a blue shirt with STAFF written on the back. At around 1pm he arrived with a bunch of kids from a camp that is hosted by the community centre. They took over the whole field but not to play soccer, they were laying, sunbathing on the field. So we had to sit on the sidelines for 25 minutes until they left.

The second time, we were using one of the goals at the end of the field and an entire PhysEd class showed up from the middle school across the street. There must have been 40 students in total. The coach approached us and barked "You've got 5 minutes to leave!" this was at 11am in the morning. Ive been told residents can not use the field from 3:30pm until close due to an organized activity every day of the week. When are residents allowed to use it? If ever?

Another thing to note is every day at 3pm ALL the gates to this park are locked shut, forcing anyone who is already in the park to exit from one small gate. This is apparently to discourage student entry from the middle school and avoid 'fights' when they leave for the day, a tactic which is flawed as they just climb the metal fences breaking them in several places.

Exactly what time this park is a PUBLIC park is an absolute mystery yet...

Update: We have done some team practices here during off peak times on weekends. It's a really great vibe and fun place to play in a central location. They have added a sign in process but its still first come first serve. You will see the sign up sheets under cover by the picnic table behind the courts. They also now funnel you in by the main building.

One of my favorite parks in the City of Miami with lots of shade and free street parking and angled parking spots on the North Side of the Tennis Court.

Four tennis courts and two ample hitting walls where racquetball gets priority over tennis. This facility is fun and has a challenge system where the winner stays on certain courts. So if you are feeling competitive this is the tennis club for you! (see my video...