The \u201cLike Mike\u201d version of \u201cBasketball\u201d thumped from a speaker as more than two dozen sixth graders lined up to warm up Monday morning at Fish Playground in Brooklyn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What better way to christen three newly finished basketball courts \u2014 made possible by Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai\u2019s Social Justice Fund and in partnership with NYC Parks \u2014 than with a free youth basketball clinic?<\/p>\n
Members of the New York Liberty and Brooklyn Nets unveil three refurbished basketball courts at Fish Playground in Brooklyn, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Madeline Kenney\/NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brings me joy,\u201d said Gregg Bishop, executive director of the Social Justice Fund. \u201cThat is something that these young people will always remember. They\u2019ll remember the Parks Department, the community making investments in their community because what does that say? It says, \u2018I see you, right? I see you, you belong here, and you deserve excellence and the best.\u2019 And that\u2019s what we aim to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not too long ago, these courts were run down and almost unusable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The foundation was so slanted that a ball might have rolled away. Roots from the trees lining the streets caused cracks in the concrete that made it hard to dribble. The backboards and rims were askew.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Monday, though, it was a completely different scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bishop joined NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura and Eagle Academy for Young Men II principal Rashad Meade, among others, to cut the ribbon in honor of the renovated courts, which were repaved with grey, black and seafoam green finishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new digs also featured six new backboards with nets, wooden benches for spectators and a new water fountain as well as a refurbished chain-link fence to keep balls from bouncing into the street.<\/p>\n
The New York Liberty and Brooklyn Nets unveil three refurbished basketball courts at Fish Playground in Brooklyn on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Madeline Kenney\/NY Post<\/p>\n
Members of the New York Liberty and Brooklyn Nets unveil three refurbished basketball courts at Fish Playground in Brooklyn on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Madeline Kenney\/NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cOur city\u2019s public basketball courts are more than just places for exercise, they\u2019re a cornerstone of community gathering and connection,\u201d Tsai, who couldn\u2019t make Monday\u2019s event due to a scheduling conflict, said in a statement. \u201c\u2026 Every pick-up game and every youth league brings our borough closer together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project was part of a $2.89 million investment by the Social Justice Fund that helped upgrade 13 basketball courts in five Brooklyn parks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope we can set the example,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cOne of the things we try to be is a catalyst for additional investments in these communities. And so when we make an investment, we also want others \u2014 whether it\u2019s high net worth individuals in the community that care about the community or even government and we\u2019ve been successful so far in actually achieving about $10 million in additional funding for different parks that we\u2019ve invested in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cLike Mike\u201d version of \u201cBasketball\u201d thumped from a speaker as more than two dozen sixth graders lined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,9,24,8915,63,10649,319,12164],"class_list":["post-391604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-nyc","tag-parks","tag-sports","tag-youth-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}