North Preston basketball player's dream court lands funding

North Preston will soon be home to a professional-grade basketball court, thanks to the efforts of a man from the community who wanted to ensure the area's kids have a safe and inspirational place to play the game.

"The court that's up there now has cracks in the pavement, holes in the fence, rusted backboards," said Shaquille Smith, who came up with the idea to build the new facility. "There's some unsafe places that are sharp or unfinished fences, stuff like that."

Smith grew up on the basketball court in North Preston. The sport eventually took him to Acadia University, where he earned his business degree.

When he finished school, he realized that his childhood court was in serious need of upgrades.

Aiming high 

Smith started calling around, pitching his plan to build a modern court to both businesses and governments.

"We're trying to make it a professional-grade court. It's going to have glass backboards, black fences," said Smith.

The design also includes seating for 280 spectators and upgrades to the lighting.

On Friday, Smith received a grant for $100,000 from the Nova Scotia government. That matches a contribution from Halifax Regional Municipality and guarantees that the work will move forward.

The area's councillor, David Hendsbee, also contributed money from his budget.

Smith is humble about his vision, saying he simply asked the right people at the right time.

A growing sport

Smith said investing in basketball makes sense because it's a growing sport in North Preston.

"Kids are taking a major interest in it, so I just wanted to make sure that they have everything they need to go as far as they want to go with basketball."

He sees a new court as a way to inspire other kids to follow in his footsteps.

"There's also going to be banners on the fences of all the community members from North Preston who placed at the college level or the university level so we're trying to bring the educational aspect to try and inspire the kids to go to university and graduate university and get their degree."

Smith will spend the summer connecting with local businesses, to try to reach his $300,000 goal in time to have the new court built in the fall.

He's also set up a program through HRM that will accept donations while offering private donors tax receipts.

When asked if it will feel incredible to see the court complete, Smith modestly said, "I hope so."