Moose Jaw's Outdoor Basketball Courts Ranked - East Side
The third and final installment in a series
By Nick Murray
Check out this Basketball court.
That court looks great. That’s a top-of-the-line Translucent plexiglass backboard with nylon mesh and a sparkling, polished orange single rim.
Check out the angle that guy is shooting at; he’s completely clear of any defender; there is no need for him to have jumped that high other than to show off for this picture. I bet you he missed that shot.
Writer Nick Murray’s dream court for Moose Jaw
The court is clean, level and coloured with visible lines. It’s a great looking outdoor basketball court that gets used by a ton of high quality basketball talent. It’s in Mosswood Park in Oakland, California.
Moose Jaw hasn’t got anything like that. Not even close. But I don’t see why it couldn’t. Picture one of those in Crescent Park where the old YMCA used to sit. Or on the other side of the tennis courts. It can’t be that expensive; rich people put them in their backyards all the time.
All Moose Jaw would need to score something like that is an obvious basketball culture where kids were hitting the hoops instead of the pills and a strong lobbying campaign pushing health & fitness and maybe a few generous donors. A project like this is completely reasonable.
Tourists would come from all over just to take on the local kids. It’s a win-win. Can somebody tag Fraser Tolmie in this?
You could probably even put a roof over it and make it year round. That’s also something that Moose Jaw kids don’t have. A year-round facility in which to practice. Unfortunately we aren’t blessed with the same eternal summer as California is. Can somebody tag God in this?
In the meantime, I’ve reviewed all the outdoor courts in town including those on South Hill and North Hill; to bring the good people of Moose Jaw a definitive guide to the best B’ball hot spots in the city.
This is the East End version.
The Best - Bell Park
Bell Park, ran by the City of Moose Jaw, is by far the best place to play basketball in Moose Jaw - photo by Nick Murray
Bell Park is King when it comes to playing basketball in the Notorious City.
It's not attached to a school so anyone can go at any time and play. That’s one of two huge advantages it has over the schoolyard courts. The other advantage is lighting. Games at Bell Park often get played into the evening hours.
It's notorious for hosting regular pick-up games and it's the only park in the city I can show up to and find a game to join in on. However, there is a downside to this as often I've seen kids show up while both ends of the court were being used for games. If those kids aren't confident enough to approach a game in action and ask to join in then oftentimes they just end up leaving without having shot a ball. That's just the nature of having a court that people use. Sometimes the courts are going to be full and if you want to play you'll need to assert yourself.
The ground is clean and level. There are six hoops. All with no mesh, rigid double rims and unforgiving backboards. You'll get very few lucky bounces at Bell Park so your shooting needs to be on point. Centre court is lined and marked so you can actually host full-court game with official out-of-bound lines, three-point lines and free throw lines. A novelty in the city.
There are garbage cans that get used occasionally, benches for resting on and even a table with a chessboard designed onto it for the deeper thinkers.
Bell Park stands atop the heap of Moose Jaw ball courts. It’s the best we’ve got. Undisputed.
The Second Best - Ecole St. Margaret
Warning! Warning! Family Fun Alert!
This little French school is the perfect place for a Saturday basketball picnic with the entire family. It's perfect for all ages. It’s truly one-of-kind in Moose Jaw.
They've got six hoops here. You could play a full court game with small nets for bambinos. You could also run a full court game with medium-height nets pre-teens and they've even got a center court with high nets for adults (although the high nets are higher than regulation, so I'd actually recommend the adults use the medium nets too so they can throw dunks down and posterize their children.)
Check it out. Ecole St. Margaret has nets most kids can even dunk on - photo by Nick Murray
The backboards and rims are modern and attractive and well maintained. There is no mesh but the nets are low enough you could just bring your own if you really wanted to; and the courts could benefit from a good sweeping to boot.
I'd actually like to offer some advice to the kids who play at Bell Park all the time. Give St. Margaret's a shot. You can dunk on these nets. Here you'll be forcing your legs to jump in order to dunk, something you don't do as often when playing at Bell Park. Forcing yourself to maximize your jump is actually an excellent workout for improving your vertical. Playing at St. Margarets could make you a better jumper. Being a better jumper makes you a better player.
Third - Prince Arthur Community School
I don’t want a “third place out of four” ranking to make it seem like Prince Arthur has cruddy courts. Because that isn’t the case at all. The East End is just spoiled with three quality basketball set-ups that compete with any other court in the city.
Prince Arthur is a great looking school. Like St. Margaret's it also has better ground and nets than Bell Park does. Which makes it a serious contender for the best school yard court in the city. The view of the basketball courts is fantastic. Check it out. It's so regal. It's like King George School but with even better courts.
Prince Arthur Community School’s basketball courts are top notch in a neighbourhood with the best in the city - photo by Nick Murray
There are four well-maintained nets with mesh and double rims. P.A. doesn't cut corners when it comes to mesh. They even keep the soccer nets meshed. Great touch P.A. I just hope people don't go and ruin this for everyone by stealing them.
The asphalt is level, clean and looks freshly poured making it a real good place to play if you're a dribbler. They've even got a decent little playground right beside it so you can drop your kids off while you shoot around.
The Worst - Ecole Ducharme
Ecole Ducharme finds itself ranked at the bottom for East Side basketball courts up against the quality this part of the city has - photo by Nick Murray
This court is on Ominica St. W so it could have easily been listed in my review of Northside courts but they're close enough to Main Street that I consider them "downtown" and "downtown" is East Side. So they're getting the East Side treatment. Regardless of what side of the city Ecole Ducharme is on, their courts are way down near the bottom as far as any ranking system is concerned.
The basketball set up Ecole Ducharme leaves a lot to be desired. The court is very small and narrow. So small and narrow, in fact, that in order to get a good game going you'd probably have to play parts of it on grass. Anyone who plays basketball knows that playing on grass is awful.
The nets are high enough that Lebron James probably can't even touch the rims and there are a couple windows nearby that are perilously close to catching rebounds.
On the plus side, the concrete was in decent shape and the backboards are in nice enough condition.
That’s all for now, folks. Thanks for tuning in.
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