A new basketball court is ready to hone the skills of Alexandra Middle School students, thanks to the hard work and generosity of a dedicated parent and a local paving company.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
lthomson@medicinehatnews.com
A new outdoor basketball court at Alexandra Middle School will serve students and the community thanks to the initiative of a local parent and donation from paving company, LMT.
Todd Samuelson, AMS principal, said the existing court was about 30 years old, with badly cracked pavement and worn out hoops. The plan for a new court was initiated during conversations he was having last year with parent Jason Treen.
“Then (Treen) literally came and knocked on my house door two days later, just so excited and eager to work towards getting a new basketball court for our students here,” said Samuelson.
“He agreed to take the lead in fundraising. For several months, he went and out and about, knocked on doors, delivered letters and raised money, but we were short a fair amount of money to get started.”
At that point, local paving company LMT sent one of its appraisers to the school to meet with Samuelson.
“He went back to the owners and they gave me a call later on and said that they really wanted to support us to make it happen,” said Samuelson. “They did the majority of the work at a fraction of the cost of what it would have taken us otherwise. It was because of them that we were really able to get the project underway.”
The project was completed over Thanksgiving weekend.
“We are pretty excited about getting that completed, it really supports our goals around community wellness,” said Samuelson. “The basketball court is not just for our students, it’s for community members as well. We really want to encourage sports and athletics and have a really nice facility to use.”
Turner Sadlemyer, a Grade 9 student at AMS, is excited about the new court, saying the old one was so tough to play on it often discouraged him from doing so.
“I really love it. I was out there last night for a few hours with my friend and this lunch period I went out there and we had a blast … it felt so much different that before,” said Sadlemyer. “It was so easy to use and I could have a good time.”
Sadlemyer spent a lot of time playing at the Central Park outdoor courts over the summer, but said they can get really busy, especially when gyms were closed due to the pandemic. He thinks the new court at AMS will be well used.
“I feel like this might be the new place to go,” said Sadlemyer.
Samuelson agrees with his student, and hopes the court will support mental and physical wellness in the school and community.
“In a time when we know mental health is an issue with not only students, but with staff, something that will draw people to be active is really worthwhile,” said Samuelson. “(It’s an) opportunity for students to get away from their electronics and their phones and engage in sports and play; I’m really excited for that.”
