Outdoor basketball courts, pro-am players coming to Fairfield Middle

If you build it, as the saying goes, they will come. The Field of Dreams adage is coming true at Fairfield Middle School.

Henrico County awarded a construction contract July 13 for four new outdoor basketball courts at Fairfield Middle School. When construction is complete in mid-October, a revitalized pro-am basketball league will take to the courts twice a week.

Richmond’s last pro-am league broke up about five years ago, but CJ Wiggins revived the movement last month and renamed the league the Loveday Pro Am League.

“Loveday is about spreading love in our city, showing love to one another in our city,” Wiggins said. “There’s been a lot of violence and a lot of bad things going on in the city, and it's just a positive light for people to come down and be around family.”

The league is made up of some of the best current and former college and professional basketball players from the Richmond region, including Reggie Williams, Jamar Abrams and Brandon Rozzell among others.

The Henrico County Board of Supervisors awarded a construction contract for $403,900 at its board meeting July 13. The bid for the contract was fairly competitive, and the bid is almost $20,000 cheaper than the pre-construction estimate.

Construction will begin in August at Fairfield Middle School, and the four courts are expected to be completed by mid-October, according to Neil Luther, the director of Recreation and Parks for Henrico County.

The courts will be open to the public when school is not in session. The four new NBA-size asphalt courts will have LED sports lighting and colored acrylic court surfacing.

“New York City is known for playing outside and having a lot of events outside,” Wiggins said. “We were wondering why can't we have something like this.”

The project was led in part by Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson in response to a high interest from Eastern Henrico residents.

“At one point, the county had a decent amount of [basketball courts] and over the years. . . you don't see as many of them,” Nelson told the Citizen. “We've had an outpouring of excitement about it.”

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.