Youth Basketball Championship Games to be Held at Richmond Coliseum

The City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will hold its CarMax Summer Basketball League championship games on Wednesday, July 31, at the Richmond Coliseum. This is the first year the championship games will be played in the Richmond Coliseum. In previous years, the games have been held on the courts of the department’s Pine Camp Arts and Community Center on Richmond’s Northside.

      The league, funded with an $85,000 grant from The CarMax Foundation this year, gives hundreds of city children, ages 10 to 17, the opportunity to play organized basketball throughout the summer.

      The final championship games at the Coliseum will be free for the public to attend. Four youth divisions will play as follows:

• U-17 for boys age 17 and younger at 5:30 p.m.
• U-15 for girls age 15 and younger at 6:30 p.m.
• U-12 for boys age 12 and younger at 7:45 p.m.
• U-14 for boys age 14 and younger at 8:45 p.m.

     A brief ceremony will be held following the U-15 game to recognize The CarMax Foundation, media sponsor 106.5 The Beat, and others involved in the league. Lane Casadonte, WTVR Channel 6 sports anchor, will serve as the master of ceremonies for the program.

      Since 2007, CarMax has given more than $655,000 to restore and expand the department’s basketball courts at Pine Camp, renovate a building on the site for use as a concession facility, and expand league play to include more youth and a wheelchair league.

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City to Cut Ribbon on New Basketball Court

WHO: Richmond Chief Administrative Officer Byron Marshall
CarMax President and CEO Tom Folliard
CarMax Foundation President Lynn Mussatt
Richmond Director of Parks, Recreation & Community Facilities Dr. Norman C. Merrifield
Other City and CarMax Officials and Youth Basketball Teams

WHAT: A ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a new basketball court and recognize the CarMax Foundation for its
donation of a $155,000 grant to support youth basketball in the City of Richmond.

WHEN: Thursday, June 30, 2011
4 p.m.

WHERE: Pine Camp Arts & Community Center
4901 Old Brook Road
Richmond, VA 23227

BACKGROUND:
The CarMax Foundation has awarded a grant of $155,000 to the Enrichmond Foundation for use by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities to build a new basketball court, restore an existing building for use as a concession facility, and expand league play to include more Richmond youth and a new wheelchair league. This is the fifth year that CarMax has supported youth basketball in the city. Since 2007, the CarMax Foundation has given more than $500,000 to restore and expand the department’s basketball courts at Pine Camp and fund league play for hundreds of Richmond youth between the ages of 10 and 17.

Department Wins Awards

The department was recognized with four awards at the 56th Annual Conference of the Virginia Recreation and Park Society held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center earlier this month. The society’s statewide awards program honors individuals, agencies and organizations throughout Virginia that have demonstrated excellence in 17 different categories during the previous year.

Richmond was recognized with a Best New Renovation/Addition Award for its restoration of the lake in Forest Hill Park. Through the years the lake had been neglected and become so overgrown that many people did not know it existed. The department restored it to its original historic appearance while working closely with the neighborhood to preserve the wetland environment. The project came in under budget and was finished ahead of schedule.

The department also won an award for Best Promotional Effort for a Specialty Piece for its note cards featuring the artwork of children attending the department's summer camps. The note cards were used by the children to send thank you notes to people who made donations in the Send-a-Kid-to-Camp campaign. they are also available for the public to purchase at community centers and City Hall.

Also at the conference, CarMax, the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, was recognized with a Distinguished Private Sector Service Award for its support of the summer basketball league. Since 2007, CarMax and its foundation have given $229,000 to improve the basketball courts at Pine Camp Arts and Community Center and to provide uniforms, equipment and staff for the league.

Sureatha McGhee, an employee since 1974, was also recognized at the conference with a Distinguished Service Award. She has been a member of VRPS since 1985 and served on many of the society’s committees.

“We would like to congratulate all of our award winners for their outstanding entries into this year’s competition,” said VRPS President Lakita Frazier. “Entries from around the state in every population category allow us to recognize the best in our business while raising the standards and quality of media promotions and events across the board.”

“As a department, and with assistance from corporate partners like CarMax, we work hard to provide excellent parks and recreation services and facilities to the residents of Richmond and visitors to our city, and we are honored to receive this statewide recognition from our peers,” said J. R. Pope, director of the department.

More than 700 professionals in the park and recreation field attended the conference. The mission of the society is to unite all professionals, students, and interested lay persons engaged in the field of recreation, parks, and other leisure services in the Commonwealth of Virginia. For more information on the society, contact the state office at (804) 730-9447 or visit www.vrps.com.