Public basketball courts reality at Westside

If Philadelphia youth are looking for a place to play basketball in their spare time, they will be getting an extra present this Christmas.

The old tennis courts at Westside Community Center have been transformed into outdoor public basketball courts.

They have been paved and striped. The fence has been replaced. New goals have been installed and soon LED lights will be installed so games and other activities can be held at night.

There are four goals and two full courts. The public will be able to have two full-court games or four half-court games going on at the same time.

Parks Director Cody Bryan said the courts would be opened to the public by the first of the year. The lighting will go up later after the trench work and utilities have been done.

Bryan said the project would end up costing between $40,000 and $45,000. Not all of that was public, Bryan added. He said this was a combined effort of the city, other public entities and private individuals working together to get a good project done.

The idea started when local businessman Philip Prince approached Bryan about the possibility of renovating the old courts behind Booker T.

“Philip called me about the courts,” Bryan said, “He remembered that’s where the basketball courts were when he was a kid. He said, ‘I’m looking at putting up nice outdoors basketball courts.’ He said these won’t be your typical goals; that he wanted to have some really nice stuff.”

Bryan had discussed this possibility with Mayor James Young. But they thought converting the Westside site would be best.

“We were talking about transitioning the back court over by the baseball field at Westside,” Bryan said. “I explained that to Philip. He said he didn’t know those courts were there but thought it would be fine,” said Bryan. 

“Philip said he and his family wanted to donate the goals and the lights. We got the city to put asphalt down on the courts. Jerry Byrd did the striping.”

“We appreciate what Philip Prince and his family and the city of Philadelphia are doing to make this happen,” Bryan said. “We appreciate Philadelphia Utilities and Central Water are helping with the lights. It is a community effort.”

Prince said he got the idea when talking with his friend Jacob Boler who runs Kids Over Everything, a local youth organization. He gives book bags to local students before the start of school each year.

“We need a place to play.” Prince said. “Cody suggested the tennis courts. The city paved the tennis courts. Other people came in. We got the goals and got it painted. I would say it’s a community effort.

“This is a first-class place. It’s one of the best outdoor courts you can have, and it is here in Philadelphia,” Prince said. “We will be able to do things at night with the lights. We’ll try to keep that under control. We do want to do things at night when it gets hot and on weekends. We can do things like skills camps and tournaments. We can put some bleachers here if we need to,” Prince said.

Bryan said the lights would probably have timers on them to prevent neighbors being disturbed by noise after a certain time.

“During the day, it will be first-come, first-serve,” Bryan said. “In the future, they are going to do some basketball camps. It will be a good deal for the kids. It is for the adults too but mostly kids. They will have a place to go play and run off some energy.”

Prince was a high school basketball star at Leake Academy and went on to play collegiate ball at East Central Community College and then the University of Southern Mississippi.

Boler and Prince plan on initially using the courts to allow younger kids certain time slots to learn the game and be able to play in a safe environment.

“The goal is to have volunteers around to teach the game of hoops and mentor kids in hoops and in the game of life,” Prince said.