Playing sports has many benefits for kids of all ages — they get exercise, which promotes good physical and mental health, it improves their gross and fine motor skills, it helps them develop skills in collaboration and communication, and they can develop qualities like leadership and discipline. Not to mention, playing sports can be really fun! 

Your kids can get these benefits and more, whether they play sports in a competitive league or casually with friends and family, when they get out and participate in sports. Alpharetta has many places where your kids can go play sports, which is why Crème de la Crème of Alpharetta on Haynes Bridge Road has put together this list of six local venues that have areas for playing sports and/or in a competitive youth league.

Wills Park

Image via Flickr by Luyen Chou Licensed CC BY 2.0

Wills Park is a local community park here in Alpharetta that features plenty of different courts, fields, and facilities where kids can play some of their favorite sports. This park is definitely the place to go to play baseball. It features eight baseball fields, two T-ball fields, batting cages, and pitching lanes so kids of all ages can practice and play. The Alpharetta Youth Baseball Association hosts an organized baseball league for kids ages 5 to 18 years old, divided up into age-appropriate groups.

Wills Park also has a beautiful Equestrian Center, where your kids can learn to ride and even compete, and the park also features six lighted tennis courts where your kids can take lessons or practice for the big game. There’s also a 10-lane competition pool where kids can practice their swim strokes or compete during the summer swim leagues and an 18-hole disc golf course, too. Across from the park on the other side of Old Milton Parkway, you’ll find sand volleyball courts, the perfect spot for practicing serves and spikes.

Wills Park Recreation Center

There are two buildings on-site at Wills Park, including the Wills Park Recreation Center. Here you’ll find badminton, pickleball, basketball, volleyball, and other indoor court sports. 

Alpharetta Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Services hosts a number of youth leagues and clinics throughout the school year and summer. There’s a volleyball league for kids ages 9 to 11 and 12 to 15 and basketball for kids in Kindergarten through 12th grade. Your kids can also take karate lessons. The rec center also has SporTykes, a multi-week program that introduces kids ages 2 to 3 years old to a variety of sports, which is a great option for little ones who haven’t picked a favorite activity yet.

Alpharetta Community Center

The other building on-site at Wills Park is the Alpharetta Community Center. This indoor sporting center is one location for the year-round Soccer Shots youth soccer clinics where your kiddos can practice footwork, passing, kicking, and skill drills to become stronger players. Your kids may also practice and compete here in their youth or teen basketball league during the school year or in the summer. They can also come here to practice free throws, dribbling, and more or play a pickup game with friends. 

In summer, the Alpharetta Community Center also offers badminton during the summer for all ages, so you and your kids can learn to play the game together.

Webb Bridge Park

Webb Bridge Park is home to three soccer fields, a multipurpose field, four baseball fields, four tennis courts, and a lot of open space. You and your kids can go play soccer, baseball, softball, and tennis, or just run drills so they can practice their skills. In addition, Webb Bridge Park is also home to the fall youth soccer league and year-round youth tennis lessons and leagues.

North Park

North Park, located in the northern part of town, features facilities for tennis, pickleball, and softball. With four tennis courts that light up in the evenings, North Park is another fantastic spot to practice footwork, back swings, and serves. While there aren’t any tennis competitions that take place here, you can take your children to play singles or doubles with friends and family.

Since North Park is one of the few spots in town with softball fields, it’s home to Alpharetta Youth Softball Association leagues that take place year-round. In fact, this park has eight lighted softball fields, where official practice and games take place and two synthetic turf multiuse fields where you can take your little softball star to practice pitching and catching. In addition to softball, this park also hosts the North Atlanta Football League, which provides league practice and games for both tackle and flag football as well as cheerleading.

South Forsyth Middle School

South Forsyth Middle School has fields that are home to the local i9 Sports leagues that serve Cumming, Suwanee, Johns Creek, Milton, and Alpharetta. i9 offers coed baseball and soccer for a variety of age groups. The i9 baseball league is split between two age groups: kids ages 3 to 4 years old, and kids ages 5 to 6 years old. The coed i9 soccer league is split between five age groups: kids ages 3 to 4 years old, ages 5 to 6 years old, ages 7 to 8 years old, ages 9 to 10, and ages 11 to 13. 

Both leagues play on the grass fields located at the school, and the league transforms the area into a functional baseball diamond or soccer field for each game day. Practice takes place on game day just a few hours before the game.

A local youth sports organization or the city’s parks department runs all the sports leagues on this list. That means your kids may still have opportunities to play different sports through their school’s team, especially in middle school and high school. But local leagues can be a great way to get your children involved in sports at an early age when their school doesn’t offer competitive sports or a particular sport they like. In addition, local leagues give your kids a chance to meet others from outside their school and make even more friends.

So there you have it, six awesome local venues where your children can play sports with friends and family or with a competitive league. Did we miss your kids’ favorite spots to play sports around Alpharetta? If so, contact us, and we’ll definitely add it to our list!