OGDEN -- Kids whacked large yellow and orange tennis balls Wednesday afternoon while high school basketball players shot lay-ups.
They were the lucky ones to be the first to play on the Marshall White Community Center's new outdoor courts after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The ceremony recognized the summer-long effort to resurface the center's tennis and basketball court. The project was completed through a $38,300 Weber County RAMP grant and a $10,000 contribution from Sport Court West in Salt Lake City, which was also hired to provide materials.
"It's just a dream come true for the community and Marshall White," center director Tyrone Aranda said. "We've spent a lot of time trying to improve the look of Marshall White so the community would come back and use the facility."
Work on the court was completed by volunteers who helped lay down the tiles, re-lay the concrete and even do the electrical work.
The court has new basketball courts complete with glass backboards and a weather- resistant, NBA-size playing surface made of individual burgundy and navy blue polypropylene squares, based on the Real Salt Lake team colors. The court also will be used for Futsal, a variation of soccer, played on a smaller surface.
In addition to basketball, the courts can be used for tennis. Half of the court is decked out in blue and green, the colors of the U.S. Tennis Association.
For younger athletes, the courts can be altered to make four QuickStart Tennis courts. QuickStart uses a smaller court size and racquet and larger balls to introduce children 10 and younger to tennis.
"It doesn't take long with the QuickStart program to play tennis and love it," said Jaime Capener, the Northern Utah schools clinician for the Utah Tennis Association.
Capener said she hopes to return in the spring to teach after-school classes.
The Utah Tennis Association trained members of the Marshall White staff to teach their young patrons how to play QuickStart.
Taking care of the court does not end with the ribbon- cutting. The weather- resistant tiles can be replaced, and members of the tennis association pledged to continue to work with the Marshall White Community Center.
Along with use by the patrons of the center, Aranda said they already have requests to rent the courts out for basketball and tennis clinics. Teams such as the DaVinci Academy Dragons, who use the center as their home court, will get to practice on the court as well.
Standard-Examiner reporter Scott Schwebke contributed to this article.
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