Calgary’s Bridgeland launches new sports court with kickoff b-ball game

A new sport-focused park opened in the community of Bridgeland Saturday morning.

The new sports court was launched by the Calgary Parks Foundation.

What an exciting day yesterday!
The Bridgeland 3×3 Sport Court is officially open!
Thank you to everyone who made this day so special!
@gccarra @mcmillan_ali @cityofcalgary @CalgFoundation pic.twitter.com/Uy5yB0G6MK

— Parks Fdn Calgary (@ParksFdnCalgary) September 25, 2022

The inner city neighborhood launched a new sports court that allows people of different ages and abilities to make baskets.

The Bridgeland Court is the work of Parks Foundation Calgary and the official launch took place Saturday, Sept. 25 at 9 Street and Centre Avenue Northeast.

It was christened by a 3-on-3 basketball game between members of UCalgary’s men’s team and youth from the community.

“Yesterday we opened a really innovative new sports court in the community of Bridgeland. It’s a 3-on-3 circular court that’s really brightly coloured and vivid. The design is really creative and lends itself well to an inclusive style of play where you can have kids experience athletes and families together at the same time,” said Sheila Taylor Parks Foundation CEO.

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“The event yesterday was great we had a tournament and demonstration event that featured players from the University of Calgary and we also handed out free balls that were provided from the Flames Foundation.”

“These kinds of sports amenities bring out kids who would quite often be sitting at home isolated and inactive. And so now they have a place to play with friends, meet other people and it’s also a way for families and others to just have a great outdoor space that is a good addition to that local community.”

Taylor says the park already features a playground, a community association, and a soccer field and that the new addition of the court is a great compliment to amenities already in place in the community. 

“What we’ve seen since the pandemic is that participation in sport has fallen significantly and that 1 in 3 kids in Calgary can’t even afford to be registered in sports. So free amenities like this give kids and families an opportunity to be active and be in sport in a very low-cost manner.”

So it’s really important that we have sports facilities like this in the city.” 

Calgary Parks Foundation is a local nonprofit in Calgary that works with communities to raise funds and create parks and sports spaces for Calgarians.

Parks Foundation has been a supporter of public spaces that improve communities since 1985.

New sports court in the community of Bridgeland (Photo: CityNews Calgary, Stefan Andersen)

-With files from Dan Carson