Mid Beach Basketball Court: Scott Rakow Sunday Open Play

Scott Rakow Youth Center, at 2700 Sheridan Ave in Mid Beach, runs drop-in open play basketball in its indoor gym through the fall, with full sessions on Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 AM to 1 PM and on Sunday from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Miami Beach residents enter free, and everyone else pays an $11 entrance fee. If your basketball court near me search starts anywhere between South Beach and 41st Street, this is the closest indoor run with published hours.

The city publishes a Fall and Winter schedule for the youth center that covers August through December. Tuesday and Thursday mornings run 10:30 AM to 1 PM. Friday evenings run 6:15 PM to 8 PM, but only on a half court. Sunday mornings run 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM. There is also a teens-only hour and a half on Tuesday, 2:30 PM to 4 PM. All of it is drop-in, and the city notes that it can change for rentals and special events.

Sunday is the best of the four for most adults. Four hours on a weekend morning gives you time to wait for next, play several games and still be out before the afternoon heat peaks. The weekday sessions fit people with flexible late mornings. The Friday half court is the weakest option: one basket means three-on-three at most, and full-court players will be disappointed.

The $11 non-resident fee is an entrance fee for the youth center, charged at the front desk, while Miami Beach residents enter free. During the summer of 2026 the fee was $10, so anyone working from old notes should expect the new number. The building is open Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 8 PM and on weekends from 9:30 AM to 5 PM, but open play basketball only runs in the posted windows.

The center can also close to the public for rentals and private events, and it is closed on teacher planning days, holiday breaks and legal holidays. For November 2026, that means Tuesday, November 3, Wednesday, November 11, and the whole Thanksgiving week from November 23 to 27. Sunday, November 29 is the first clean Sunday after the break.

The city says the youth center was built in 1976 to serve the teens of Miami Beach and has since grown into a facility for every age. It carries the name of Scott R. Rakow, a Miami Beach native born in 1959 who joined the Miami Beach Police Department in 1984. According to the State Archives of Florida, he was shot at the end of a car chase on June 29, 1988, and died the next day.

The building packs more into one site than most rec centers in the county. Beside the gym there is an ice skating rink, an outdoor swimming pool, six bowling lanes, an arts and crafts center, a game room, a media room, a fitness center, a music room and a computer lab. On weekday afternoons from 2 PM to 6 PM the center hosts registered after-school participants in grades 4 to 12, which is why open play sits in the morning.

The Tuesday teens-only window, 2:30 PM to 4 PM, is worth knowing about for parents. It sits right after the school day, it is reserved for teenagers, and it gives high school players a gym run without adults taking over the court. Adults who show up at that hour will have to wait for another session, so plan a Tuesday visit for the 10:30 AM block instead.

The Barbara Medina Ice Rink, a 12,885-square-foot rink that is home to figure skating, ice hockey and open skate sessions, closes starting in October 2026 for upgrades funded in part by the 2018 G.O. Bond. The city's project page says the work will take about seven to eight months and that the rest of the youth center will stay open to the public. In practice, that means the basketball gym is unaffected.

The playground outside is also closed for construction right now, so families who planned to split a morning between the gym and the swings should adjust. Youth basketball keeps the gym busy on weekday evenings, with Pee Wee basketball for grades K to 1 on Tuesday and Thursday from 6 PM to 7 PM, and middle school basketball on Monday and Wednesday at the same hour.

The youth center sits right beside the Miami Beach Golf Club, so the view from the parking lot is fairway rather than high-rises. For a cool-down walk, the Miami Beach Botanical Garden is about a mile south near the convention center, with palms, ponds and shaded paths. Collins Avenue and the beach are a few blocks east, if you want salt water instead of a shower.

My honest call: skip the Friday half-court session unless you only want to shoot, and skip Thanksgiving week entirely. If the gym is full on a Sunday and the wait looks longer than two games, the city also lists Flamingo Park in South Beach and North Shore Park Youth Center in North Beach among its basketball parks, and either one is a short drive.

Where: Scott Rakow Youth Center, 2700 Sheridan Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33140. Open play, August to December: Tuesday and Thursday 10:30 AM to 1 PM; Friday 6:15 PM to 8 PM, half court; Sunday 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM; teens only on Tuesday 2:30 PM to 4 PM. Entrance: Miami Beach residents free, non-residents $11.

If you bring kids along, the six bowling lanes have their own rules: bowlers must be at least 40 inches tall, sneakers are required, and children need an adult with them, one adult for every four youth. Wear court shoes in the gym as well, since city park rules require shoes everywhere. Bring proof of residency for the free rate. Open play is not offered on non-school days or legal holidays, and the gym schedule moves when the center is rented or hosts a special event, so plan any long drive from the mainland around the published schedule rather than a hunch.