Sergeant J.R. Hatch Park

This place is great although a little small. It contains a skate park, volleyball courts, backboards for basketball, and it connects the cycling trails from Bush park to Terry Hershey park.
The only issue is during summer the volleyball courts get packed after around 5.
I’d also like to mention that the park shares the parking lot with a police station which makes it one of the most secure places to leave your car when you hit the cycling trails.

I have to say this is a great spot if you want to take a long walk, play volleyball, skateboard, or do some cycling.
So what makes it so much better than another park? Why would someone park here rather than just to into George Bush Park? Or Cullen? Or any other? Well the police are right there! There are many instances of theft and other shady dealings at parks throughout Harris county so I guess I feel a bit safer leaving my car with my not-​so-​cheap bike rack attached here. There’s also a restroom here if you need to make a pit stop on the trail!
I’ve been on the weekend and during the week. I notice during the week that there are more patrol cars here than on the weekend. In any case, this is a popular spot and the parking lot is usually crammed with cars, bikes or people taking «boot camp» style classes. It’s best to get here early if possible!

This park is first a Harris County Annex 13 location, known to many locals at the Cop Shop. The park in general received five stars. However, just recently in the past months noticed the county is keeping more patrol cars at this location which is reducing the park parking. This park is a great meeting spot, restrooms, water fountain and open space to either go let towards the city or right towards the George Bush park. The trails from here are long, wide but note no shade on the trails but the park itself is full shade.

When one has a very active eleven year old boy who needs to remain busy, one stays familiar with all the latest gadgets, both electronic and mechanical, that grab their imagination and keep them occupied. One such item is the RipStik, a new generation skateboard called a waveboard that has a swivel in the middle and is propelled via a carving action (like snow boarding) where the rider’s feet never touch the ground. It’s cool.
My son has reached the point where he can jump curbs with ease, do hairpin turns and spins, perform tricks off of little plastic ramps we’ve bought him, and grind on anything available. He was needing a new challenge. One obvious solution was take him to a skate park. There is a fantastic one near downtown, but it’s a bit far from my Energy Corridor residence and for some ridiculous reason, it doesn’t allow waveboards. I can only assume this snub is related to some sort of skateboard snobbery (similar to what some skiers think of snow boarders).
I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that there was a small and little-​known outdoor skate park near the intersection of Barker Cypress Road and the Katy Freeway. We go there often now and my son can negotiate much bigger ramps, grind along specially built bars and edges and practice tricks in an environment intended for this sort of thing.
The skate park is located in Sergeant J.R. Hatch Park which is adjacent to the parking lot of the Harris County Constable Precinct 5 facility. For obvious reasons, safety is not a big concern with all that law enforcement right next door.
The park also contains five sand volleyball courts in good condition, five half-​court basketball courts on the asphalt parking lot, picnic tables, a water fountain and restroom facilities. It appears to be used frequently as a water stop and for bio-​breaks by bicyclists using the trail that runs next to the Barker Reservoir levee. I’ve also heard that lots of evening pickup volleyball games are played here.
Shhh…don’t tell too many people. It’s still one of the best kept secrets in town. I want to hoard it to myself and a few others for a while longer.