City Centre ready for semi-pro basketball
It has been a good while since we last saw the excitement of semi-pro basketball at the City Centre. Actually it’s been one year, ten months and six days since Evan “Duck” Garnett inbounded the perfect pass and Keith Acosta slammed home the winning bucket to win the 1999 championship for the Phoenix Footlocker Raiders. Since that time basketball has had its problems in Belize and after a number of false starts semi-pro makes a belated comeback on Friday night. While no one is certain of the calibre of play, one thing that should not disappoint is the condition of the court. According to Michael Sanchez of the Ministry of Education and Sports, the newly reconditioned boards are in better shape then ever.
Michael Sanchez, Civil Works Supervisor
“First of all, we had the committee from the sports council look at the court, evaluated the situation and decided what needed to be done. We took up the entire court and sent it to Cayo at Belize Timber where they changed all the rot sections and replaced all the wood parts that were bad. We then returned back here with it and we went through the process of sanding it for about three days with the different type of sanders to get it back right. Then we sealed it and put on all the painting, all the lines, the emblem and all the colours. After that we then put on three more coats of sealant, which they are finishing down below at this present moment. We had a gentleman come in from Miami to show us and explain to us how it should be done and done right.”
Stewart Krohn
“Previously when there was a function going on at City Centre, they would just cover the court and people would walk on it and even though it wasn’t supposed to be damaged, it did place a lot of wear and tear on the court. What have you done to change that system?”
Michael Sanchez
“I haven’t done anything in reality yet, but it’s in the discussion stage at this time to set up a team who can take the court down in about and hour and a half or two, before the function, and after the function, it takes about three hours to be placed back up. Of course it has to go to the council for them to decide how they’ll handle it, if the fee will be charged to the person renting it, so as to pay for taking down and putting it up back up, so as to ensure the life of the court.”
Sanchez says the court repair was a team effort involving the Minister of Sports, National Sports Director, Belize Timber and a team of men who have been working literally around the clock to have the facility ready for Friday night. A rough estimate puts the cost of the refurbishing at around sixty thousand dollars. It was originally purchased second hand from the U.S. in 1998.
