Basketball centre to provide homecourt advantage
A new basketball facility, The Playground London, aims to create more opportunities — in an ever-growing sport locally — for hoopsters of all ages.
The Playground facility in Scarborough. London’s will include five courts and feature regular bookings for leagues, teams, and organizations, plus public drop-in hours and rentals. (Photo: Playground Global).
It’s the kind of homecourt advantage, organizers say, needed by a sport growing by leaps and rebounds in the Forest City.
Tipping off in October, The Playground London will be a state-of-the-art basketball training and event centre with the community game at the heart of its operations. Part of The Playground Global network, the London facility is currently finishing construction in the former RONA store at Commissioners Road and Highbury Avenue.
“Canada is considered world class when it comes to basketball. We have great players. We have great coaches. What we have lacked is the infrastructure to support that talent,” said Kevin Barnes, Director of Business Development, Playground Global. “This is where facilities like the one we’re opening in London are going to help support the growth of the game.”
The Playground London boasts five full courts, including a championship main court (with bleacher capacity for 600 fans), high school and youth training courts, and two additional courts built on the footprint of the former big box store’s three-seasons lumber storage area. (The nickname for those courts? The Lumber Yard, of course.)
Playground facilities include adjustable rims for skills development of all ages — and training technology like shooting, passing, and ball-handling machines. (Photo: Playground Global).
Open 24/7, 365 days a year, the facility includes multiple adjustable rims for skills development of all ages, as well as the latest training tech like shooting, passing, and ball-handling machines. Operations will include regular bookings for leagues, teams, and organizations, plus public drop-in hours and rentals.
“We’re bringing a fully modern facility for everyone in the community – organizations, adults, children, or just your avid basketball fan – to have a chance to experience, enjoy, and help grow the game in the Forest City,” said Barnes, who was a co-founder of Southwest Basketball Academy in London and now serves as the University of Waterloo’s lead assistant men’s basketball coach.
Unique to London is The Playground’s strategic partnership (and shared space) with the ActivityPlex London, an 80,000-square-foot multi-purpose recreational and activity space that provides a central location for sports, arts and academic activities. (If you don’t know ActivityPlex, think space for the kids’ karate practice, swimming lessons, and tutors – all under one roof – with lounge areas for weary parents to wait out all three.)
“We’re thrilled to have Playground Global join the ActivityPlex family. Bringing basketball to our centre really rounds out our already amazing roster of tenants. We can’t wait for the Playground Global to open and serve the London community,” said Adam Jacobson, ActivityPlex owner.
In June 2020, the Playground Global started with one 15,000-square-foot facility in Scarborough, Ont., and has since expanded to include locations in Durham, Brampton, Peterborough, and Burlington. London and Ottawa (2022) will soon join the list. Headed by Sam Ibrahim and Jamie Coote, the organization is already the largest privately owned basketball complex in the world with plans to be border-to-border in Ontario within two years – and nationwide within five.
The Canadian-born company roots its success in the popularity of a game that has been growing for a decade or more, with the country producing some of the game’s top talent at the professional, collegiate, and amateur levels. Currently, London has three generations of elite talent dominating courts around the world, with the likes of Miranda Ayim (Team Canada), Bridget Carleton (Team Canada and Minnesota Lynx), and top high school prospects like Shaedon Sharpe all once calling Forest City courts home.
Despite that success, Barnes explained, court time has been tough to come by for local hoopsters, with access often depending on fitting into the packed schedules of limited municipal or school gyms, where basketball is just one of many groups vying for a few community hours.
“If you were a very committed student-athlete who wanted to take extra time to train and perfect your sport, there was nowhere for you to do that,” Barnes said. “The Playground is meant to serve a need for public space in the basketball community. That's our priority.”
There are some familiar faces, but there’s a sense of renewal in London as the Lightning embark on a new season. With a new coach and several new players, is a new era upon us? What to expect in 2024-25 …