Hoops for the Young

The Cause

We have been running a sports night dropping program at the Calgary Marlborough Community association. The program is fully free and supported by the community board and several volunteers. The program started five years ago with only a handful of people attending the event, and has grown so much that now we are entertaining over 60 youngsters in a night. It is incredible to see the great multicultural diversity on those nights; kids whose ancestry comes as far as Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and in short from all the continents of the world regularly meet on our sports night events.

The original idea was to cater to all young people, and to practice as many sports as could be possible to play at the community’s gym, in a way to provide a healthy recreational activity. As the program has grown, we have found great enthusiasm in basketball and indoor soccer, especially from the very young people under 10 years old. Sadly we have seen how these amazing boys and girls struggle when trying to throw a ball since, unfortunately, the basketball hoops at the gym are set at the regular height and cannot be lowered or modified, which makes young guys unable to reach the hoops and enjoy practicing the sport they love; similarly, the facility does not have gym divider curtains or mobile wall paddings to permit the practice of indoor soccer, floor hockey, or similar sports safely. The program though achieving great success over the years has left us the sour note of not being able to provide a recreational center for the youngest population, or those who would like to play soccer, floor hockey, and like sports.

Our idea is to install a mobile and retractable basketball hoop and curtains and wall paddings to provide for this neglected group but the cost of this endeavour is currently prohibited. Any funds provided would be used towards the purchase and installation of a mobile and retractable basketball hoop, and gym divider curtains and/or mobile wall paddings. These would be purchased as soon as funds are received and hopefully prior to this winter season.

Who Will it Benefit?

The main beneficiaries would be kids under 10 years old, and most of our own and neighboring communities who participate in our event, and would like to practice indoor sports. These kids come from many places in Calgary and bring a gigantic multicultural flavor to our community center.