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Facelift underway for Regina high school basketball court

Justin Lee, cofounder of Baskets and Borders, is working with a small army of volunteers to restore the Sheldon Williams Collegiate basketball courts this summer. (Brendan Lee/submitted - image credit)
Justin Lee, cofounder of Baskets and Borders, is working with a small army of volunteers to restore the Sheldon Williams Collegiate basketball courts this summer. (Brendan Lee/submitted - image credit)

Upgrades are underway at the Sheldon Williams Collegiate basketball court this summer.

When Justin Lee played there growing up, the court was in rough shape.

"The nets had no meshes, the backboards were ripped up, the ground was really cracked and slippery and you fell a lot when you played," he told CBC Radio's The Morning Edition.

"The chain link fence was ripped, the lights didn't work… it didn't look like it is going to look in the coming months."

Bryan Eneas/CBC
Bryan Eneas/CBC

Lee and his twin brother are grateful to the management of the non-profit, plus a long list of volunteers that he said extends far across the basketball community. They have begun the work by ripping down the chain link fence that existed, replacing the lights and laying new asphalt.

In about a month, when the asphalt has rested for enough time, Lee said a mural representing inclusivity and multiculturalism will be installed.

He estimated about half the construction work was completed. The court should be useable by the end of summer.

Construction is being done through the Buckets and Borders non-profit, which calls the initiative the Lakeview Project.

Buckets and Borders' website says the initiative strives to make basketball, which its says has a real impact on communities, more accessible. The Lakeview project is the first of Buckets and Borders' initiatives.

The project, with a price tag of roughly $100,000, was supported by the City of Regina, the basketball community, members of the private sector, grant funding and a group of core sponsors, Lee said.

Contributions were taken through the launch of a line of clothing apparel, launched late last year, which Lee said sold out.

Riley Sisco/submitted
Riley Sisco/submitted

"We've got a pretty incredible group of volunteers on our team of designers with apparel background, so we're back at it," he said.

"We're actually launching our summer line [on Thursday], which is called the Caged Capsule."

Featuring reversible jerseys, along with shorts, t-shirts and hats, 100 per cent of the money from the newest line of apparel is to go toward Buckets and Borders initiatives, the group's website said.