Belize City ball courts get uplifted
Anthony Michaels
If you were cruising along various basketball courts and football fields on south side Belize City, you would note that some refurbishments are taking place. The National Sports Council is in charge of the upgrade to sporting facilities in the old capital and the money, not a whole lot, forty thousand dollars, was approved by Cabinet in response to the crime wave. The project came at the request of gang members who met with government ministers last October. And while the National Sports Council is dealing with the technical aspect of the project, Youth for the Future and other youth organizations are helping in identifying the youths at risk. News Five caught up with Minister of Sports, Elvin Penner, and Executive Director of the National Sports Council, Anthony Michael, at the Euphrates Basketball Court, one of the facilities that is getting a facelift.
Elvin Penner, Minister of Sports
“When they had the meeting with the youths and the members from the streets, many suggestions were brought out, but one of the requests and one of the wishes of these youths was to participate more in sporting events, to participate more in physical activities like basketball, volleyball, football etcetera. But there was a complaint that even if they would want to do it, the facilities were in no shape that they could comfortably play basketball or football. So this money was allocated to upgrade these facilities. It’s really a program that we initiated looking at ways and means and how to reduce violence in Belize. It’s a fact that we can’t run away from. The violence is at a point where we have to make it a priority and that’s really what we did.”
Anthony Michael, Executive Director, Nat’l Sports Council
“In terms of the football fields, not all of them; I would like to make that very clear. We have some football fields that we have not addressed as yet. And as soon as we start procuring more money we will be looking at those particular areas. A lot of these fields in Belize City were filled with clay and grass doesn’t grow well in clay so what we have done we have procured some black dirt—bagasse and so forth—and we have put them out there. We are trying to fertilize and these same people are spreading. So we are filling these areas so water could drain off and proper grass that could lawnmower where people can start exercise. In the other basketball areas, we are doing the painting, lining out of the volleyball court, the dimension of the basketball court and so forth.”
The project is expected to be completed by Thursday of next week.
