A.H. Parker High School has a new way for students and neighbors to work out for free, with a seven-station outdoor Fitness Court now open on campus that anyone 14 or older can use without paying a dime. Birmingham City Schools, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, and the National Fitness Campaign opened the court Monday, and a second one is scheduled to debut at Huffman High School on Thursday.
The Parker court features seven stations built around bodyweight exercises, according to WBMA, and the workouts can be adjusted for different fitness levels so a beginner and a varsity athlete can train side by side. QR codes posted at each station link users to a free Fitness Court app loaded with instructional videos and structured routines, as SoulGrown reports. There's no membership fee and no equipment to bring — just show up and scan the code.
Terry Lamar, Birmingham City Schools' chief of staff and a former physical education teacher, said the court is meant to pull in families and friends from well beyond Parker's usual feeder pattern. He described it as a community-based fitness option that complements what students already get in gym class, adding that the setup offers the family component that's often missing and lets people work at their own pace. Fitness, he said, should be a lifelong commitment, and the habits people build now will shape their future.
Students See a Court Built for Everyone, Not Just Athletes
Tamya Murray, a Parker senior and the school's student government association president, said she's noticed that some students treat the gym as a space reserved for athletes. The new equipment, she said, gives students who aren't on a team another avenue to work on their health. Murray plans to use the court herself with friends and her softball teammates, both during the season and outside of it.
James Sullivan, the school board representative for District 5, framed the court as the product of a public-private partnership and tied it directly to academics. He said student health is connected to classroom readiness, and that healthy students are able to learn more and come to class excited. Heidi Ramey, coordinator of the Caring Foundation and corporate giving at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, said the project is meant to expand access to exercise for Parker students and the surrounding community.
Part of a Statewide Push for Free Outdoor Gyms
Birmingham City Schools is one of more than 25 National Fitness Campaign partners working to build out a network of these courts across Alabama. The campaign's stated goal is to put a Fitness Court within a 10-minute bike ride of every American, according to the National Fitness Campaign. The first Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama-sponsored court opened at Pratt Park in Prattville in June 2022, just six months after the statewide campaign launched, and Hartselle brought a free court to Sparkman Park that August.
Other Alabama communities have taken the concept further: Saraland's Town Center Park hosts free weekly classes for adults of all fitness levels at its court, and Kimberly launched a court at its municipal park through a partnership that included The Caring Foundation and the North Jefferson Chamber of Commerce. Counts of how many courts exist statewide have varied by source and date — Bham Now reported 18 open or coming soon in February 2024, while a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama release counted Homewood among 20 courts that May — and the National Fitness Campaign now says courts are open in 19 of Alabama's 67 counties.
The Parker and Huffman courts also arrive alongside a much larger investment in Birmingham City Schools' athletic facilities. The Birmingham City Council approved a $4.1 million project at its August 25, 2026, meeting covering new or renovated athletic courts at 32 elementary and middle schools, according to AL.com. That project includes upgrades at 18 schools and brand-new outdoor courts at 14 others, part of a $45 million investment the council approved for the district earlier in the year. The media release announcing the Fitness Courts did not detail the total project cost, each partner's financial contribution, or who will be responsible for maintaining the equipment going forward.
