TEXAS — Every weekend, games of handball are played at Escobar Park on San Antonio’s West Side. The blue rubber ball used in the game reverberates when crashing into a wall. 

“It was like a haven, an outlet somewhere you can put your energy into,” Sonny Estrada said.  

Estrada said it’s an opportunity to be productive. 

“People think it’s a prison sport, but it’s actually not a prison sport,” Estrada said. “There’s a lot of people that I know that I’ve met in other states…that have never been to prison and they play great. I’m like what the heck.” 

Estrada used social media to turn this hidden gem into a handball destination in Texas, where players from Dallas, Austin, New York and Corpus Christi come to play. 

But their biggest opponent on the court isn’t always other players — it’s the summer heat. 

The park has two walls surrounded by large fences and one tree to keep shade in the triple-digit temperatures. Those were the conditions Estrada and other handball players felt for decades. Now they have a canopy shade over both handball courts paid through a San Antonio Parks and Recreation bond. 

“Now it’s the best courts in Texas,” said Corpus Christi resident Randy Ramirez.

Ramirez travels from Corpus often to play handball at Escobar Park. 

“The sun was out but it wasn’t affecting me at all. You can feel all of the wind, it was great,” Estrada said. “The way the City (of San Antonio) has helped us out has been a blessing. Them putting it up for us and lights too.”

More parks in San Antonio are seeing shade structures like this over playgrounds. The city is spending $19 million over five years to build shade at 61 parks — keeping families cool in the summer.

Across Texas, parks and recreation departments are working to make public parks more enjoyable.

In El Paso, the city is rolling out new shade canopies using money from a 2022 bond.

The City of Plano is even going as far as launching a interactive map that tracks the shade throughout the day, so visitors can better plan to beat the heat. 

Ramirez hopes a canopy can hover over the handball courts in Corpus. 

“It would be amazing. … We spoke to the parks and recreation folks, they said we can adopt a park and then we can take steps,” Ramirez said. 

Estrada says it’s a process that can be pricey but worth it to play the game that gave him a second chance at life. 

“It took us a while to petition and talk to people,” Estrada said. “It’s been great that it’s actually worked out for us and everything.”