The “Like Mike” version of “Basketball” thumped from a speaker as more than two dozen sixth graders lined up to warm up Monday morning at Fish Playground in Brooklyn.
What better way to christen three newly finished basketball courts — made possible by Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai’s Social Justice Fund and in partnership with NYC Parks — than with a free youth basketball clinic?
“It brings me joy,” said Gregg Bishop, executive director of the Social Justice Fund. “That is something that these young people will always remember. They’ll remember the Parks Department, the community making investments in their community because what does that say? It says, ‘I see you, right? I see you, you belong here, and you deserve excellence and the best.’ And that’s what we aim to deliver.”
Not too long ago, these courts were run down and almost unusable.
The foundation was so slanted that a ball might have rolled away. Roots from the trees lining the streets caused cracks in the concrete that made it hard to dribble. The backboards and rims were askew.
On Monday, though, it was a completely different scene.
Bishop joined NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura and Eagle Academy for Young Men II principal Rashad Meade, among others, to cut the ribbon in honor of the renovated courts, which were repaved with grey, black and seafoam green finishes.
The new digs also featured six new backboards with nets, wooden benches for spectators and a new water fountain as well as a refurbished chain-link fence to keep balls from bouncing into the street.
“Our city’s public basketball courts are more than just places for exercise, they’re a cornerstone of community gathering and connection,” Tsai, who couldn’t make Monday’s event due to a scheduling conflict, said in a statement. “… Every pick-up game and every youth league brings our borough closer together.”
The project was part of a $2.89 million investment by the Social Justice Fund that helped upgrade 13 basketball courts in five Brooklyn parks.
“I hope we can set the example,” Bishop said. “One of the things we try to be is a catalyst for additional investments in these communities. And so when we make an investment, we also want others — whether it’s high net worth individuals in the community that care about the community or even government and we’ve been successful so far in actually achieving about $10 million in additional funding for different parks that we’ve invested in.”
