Basketball Court Renovations Complete
New paving, painting, gates, baskets and backboards grace the courts.
Photos
Maplewood's outdoor basketball courts in Memorial Park are back in business after undergoing renovations this summer.
Thanks to funding from the Township's Open Space Trust Fund and the Essex County Parks & Recreation Department, the two 45-year-old courts (with four baskets) were upgraded, with a new playing surface installed, new lines painted, support poles sanded and painted, fencing replaced, and new back boards and rims installed.
The repaving, new fencing, and lining of the basketball courts cost $41,650.
The cost of hte backboards was not immediately available but we will add that information when it is received. No money for the renovations came from the Township's operating budget.
Visiting on a hot but not muggy August afternoon, Patch spoke with one adult resident who had a passel of middle-school-aged children with him. The resident said he appreciated the improvements but would have hoped for the larger, rectangular backboards as well as more detailed line painting and moving the gates back to allow for more out-of-bounds space. "It would be nice for clinics," he said.
Who knows? Maybe there'll be some tweeking in the future.
Scott Lewis
11:19 am on Friday, September 3, 2010
My friends and I have been using the courts almost every Sunday morning for about 4 years now. While I very much appreciate the improvements, the backboards used are cheap and inferior to other backboards. The ones in South Orange's Baird Center are excellent. I was hoping they would have used the same.
gus heningburg
4:33 pm on Sunday, September 5, 2010
scott, this is the reality in the township of maplewood. there is not a single regulation basketball court in this community any longer. the lights at memorial were disconnected years ago. the court at maplecrest was regulation, they took that out. i have been in town since 1965, and the attitude towards basketball and those that play it has become less and less favorable. think about how many soccer fields there are. oh, and a regulation baseball field that we spend lots on to maintain that is only used by the elite american legion team to practice on. i dont remember the last baseball game i saw on that field. yet, on any given day, you have a 2 or 3 game wait to play hoop on a non regulation court. on any given day, come over to the hilton section and see the kids pulling their hoops out to the street to play half court. i suggest to all basketball players in town, ask our leaders why it is that you have a roller hockey rink, tennis courts with lights, a heated paddle tennis court with lights, bocci court, multiple soccer fields, softball fields, yet 1 inferior no regulation hoop court.
it is a question i have been asking for years. the on the record answer will differ 180 degrees from the off the record answer. it is time to have a regulation basketball court in town. i have the answer to the money issue, all i need is a location.