Moose Jaw's Outdoor Basketball Courts Ranked - South Hill
By Nick Murray
There’s a lot of great things about Moose Jaw in the summer; and a lot of great things for the residents to do to keep fit and healthy while having a good time. There’s ball diamonds and a beach volleyball court. There’s a skate park and a bike park. There are tracks and countless walking trails. There’s a pool and a river. But if you’re anything like me, when it comes to sweating off the Easter fattening the first you look for is a nice basketball hoop and the potential for a pick-up game.
I’ve documented my journey into the world of nightmare-inducing double rims and unforgiving backboards to chart out the best basketball courts Moose Jaw has to offer.
The first of a three part series
Best - Empire School
Empire School’s basketball court - Nick Murray photo
Empire School has a great setup. Tons of space for shooting around or making your kids do suicide sprints. It’s perfectly secluded and quiet, hidden between the school and the Optimist Park Girls Fastball diamonds.
It’s home to eight hoops perfectly placed to host four full court games, simultaneously. And, as a side note, that brick wall is perfect for practicing tennis on too.
Most of the hoops have chain mesh but there are a few that just have the dangling remains of chain meshing. So a little upkeep wouldn’t hurt it’s odds of ranking the best in the whole city rather than just topping out on South Hill. Otherwise, the rims are decent and so are the backboards.
There are some picnic tables beside the courts so you can sit comfortably while rolling your cigarettes between games. Just take your butts with you when you leave, kids play here. Plus it’s not far from Fine Foods so you’re only a few minutes away from unlimited Faygo.
Empire School BBall courts are definitely a contender for the best courts in the city. I’ve got them ranked as the best ones on South Hill; that’s for sure. I’ve got just one complaint about them. Upkeep. The asphalt would be a lot nicer if it wasn’t covered in sand and stones. As you can tell from the picture above, somebody else noticed this too and took it upon themselves to clean off a little practice area.
A Close Second - St Mary School
This ball court is deceptively exceptional. It’s certainly not the first court I think of on South Hill, that’s for sure and on the occasion that I do drive by the school there is nothing about it that reminds me of my basketball playing glory years, but it’s damn near the best one on they’ve got up there.
It’s home to four great wooden backboards, double rims and chain mesh. The nets aren’t the most modern in the city but they’ve got great bounce. I’d argue the nets are even better for shooters then the ones at Empire are; which means that if I were going simply to shoot around, by myself, I’d likely pick St. Mary first.
St Mary School’s basketball court ranks second - Nick Murray photo
It’s the perfect setup for running two full court games at a time; only the “full court” is actually just a bit longer than than a normal half court so old guys like me can play a “full court” game without killing their gas tanks getting back on defence.
However, just like Empire and Westmount, St Mary School has fallen victim to the Great South Hill Broom Shortage and the court is littered with sand and stones from the adjacent playground. The sand gets slippery and the stones can be a nuisance if you’re always stepping on them. But aside from the dirty concrete, St Mary School makes for some pretty solid basketball workouts.
The Rest
Smith Park
The courts at Smith Park border the line between public ball court and school yard hoop setup. Technically, it’s in a public park but it’s close enough to Catholic school kids playing hopscotch that you’d probably feel like a creep spending too much time there during school hours.
There is a strangely out-of-place baseball backstop behind the west hoop that actually serves as a Freudian Slip, of sorts. It looks super silly just chilling on the corner of a basketball court but it actually saves you a lot of time and effort as it cuts off a lot errant rim-clangers.
Smith Park has two hoops available - Nick Murray photo
There are two hoops, both with single rims. Sometimes they have mesh other times they don’t.
The backboards were relatively forgiving, which makes up for the mileage you gotta cover getting the ball past the rim because both nets seem too high.
The ground is fine. A bit of a slope and some cracks in the concrete but still perfectly usable. Full court games are not only possible but I’ve seen them in action.
Smith Park itself is very nice. It’s backed by three soccer pitches, a large parking lot and an outdoor skating rink. It’s also got a little walking path and some adorable rolling hills. A nice place to take a dog for a walk (check the signs before you do that though, for all I know dogs aren’t even allowed); and if the playground equipment is too well-worn for your kids’ liking the apparatuses at Sacred Heart are only a couple hundred yards away.
But as far as basketball courts go, the one at Smith Park will suffice but isn’t anywhere close to the top of the list.
Westmount School
As far as meeting with the boys for some 3-on-3 goes, Westmount School should probably be one of your last choices for a destination.
The ground is covered so thoroughly by stones and sand that I fear no amount of broom pushing could effectively clean it off. On top of that, the ground is massively slanted.
Westmount School is best for three on three play - Nick Murray photo
There are 4 hoops; 3 with single rims and one with a double rim. Backboards are fine. The nets are decent; even if a little aged. The chain mesh is a nice touch.
The nets are all set at different heights; but a lot of that could simply be from the slanted concrete. One net is so high I have a hard time imagining kids in this school could score on it; which makes me think these nets aren’t getting used very often. The nets are also all dangerously close to windows.
And then they’ve got this pump station situated right in the key of one of the courts, as if it’s a built-in defender who occasionally steals your ball and forces you to scale a dangerous fence to get it back. You can see how this would render any sort of basketball using this hoop useless.
Cornerstone Christian School
I’ll give credit where credit is due. Cornerstone has at least made the attempt to fit some semblance of a basketball court into a very small playground. It’s not optimal. It’s not really functional for either full court or half court games. But if a kid really wants to pretend he’s Kawhi Leonard they’ve still got a pair of hoops he can shoot around on.
One of those hoops was even rocking a fresh NBA brand, tri-coloured mesh. The other one was mesh-less and the rim wasn’t bolted on tight enough so you could hear it buzzing every time a ball hit the rim.
The ground is rough, slanted and cracked and seems to be confused about whether it’s concrete or asphalt.
Then there is the case of the SaskPower box intruding at one end of the court, which renders most perimeter play out of the question and the playground juts into the court at the other end causing the exact same problem. the whole setup was clearly lacking a designer. But hey, a hoop’s a hoop. It’s all better than nothing.
It might be a small playground but Cornerstone Christian School adds a small court - Nick Murray photo
Summary
South Hill has five basketball courts.
Two of them are pretty good. They’re dirty, but still pretty good. One of them is perfectly suited for games but not anything you’d drive out of your way for and two others which aren’t really functional as basketball courts.
Stay Tuned; we will soon be ranking the courts on the North End as well as the East End.
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