Why am I writing about basketball nets? Stay with me. It was two Saturdays ago that I came by the Panati Recreation Center at 3101 N. 22nd Street, one of the buildings that I do work out of, in North Philadelphia, as a part of my work for the Allegheny West Foundation, a 501 C-3 nonprofit. I’d say I’m in and out of that building at least 4 to 5 times a week, every week.
If you’re standing outside in front of the recreation center, on one side, there’s a playground and spray park with water sprinklers for the children. There’s a nice walking path and some outdoor exercise equipment. All of that is pretty much on one side of the outside of the Panati Recreation Center. On the other side of the building are the outdoor basketball courts.
On the days when I have time, I walk around the walking path. It’s great exercise. I have certainly been seen jumping in the water sprinkler with children more times than I can count this summer since it’s been so hot. What I haven’t really done is pay attention to the basketball courts. I give the basketball courts a cursory glance. However, I never really zeroed in on the condition of the headboard and the basketball rims, and the nets.
I stopped by two Saturdays ago at Panati because we have a Saturday basketball clinic going on for youth on our basketball courts. This activity is spearheaded by 4The Kidz Basketball, a nonprofit group I wrote about earlier this summer. One of the leaders of the 4The Kidz Basketball group is Brent Hawthorne, and one of the coaches for the group is Louis Upshaw. I stopped by specifically to take some pictures of the youth learning the art of basketball for our community newsletter. That’s when it finally caught my eye that the basketball nets, barely hanging from the rims, on all six basketball backboards looked like they had not been replaced since the 1960s. They were in such bad condition.
My heart sank. I feel like many of our youth who live in areas like the Allegheny West community are always on the back-burner when it comes to having basic things such as schools without asbestos and with central air-conditioning in the summer and working heat in the winter. Panati Recreation Center itself is in dire shape, and all the neighbors and residents in the area are waiting for the day the building will be torn down so that a new building can be erected. Philadelphia City Councilwoman Cindy Bass, who represents the area, is doing all that she can to push along this rebuild project. It falls under the Philadelphia Rebuild plan, which targeted a number of our city’s worst recreation centers and parks for rehab or rebuilds.
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