Spark Park basketball courts pass muster at Herman C. Michael Park

13 year old Athens Academy phenom Lowell Matthews checks out the very few scuff marks on the new solid plexiglass backboards of the outdoors Sprite Spark Park funded basketball courts at Herman C. Michael Park in Oconee County, Georgia (Photograph by Daniel J. Matthews - fully licensed and copyrighted photograph may not reproduced without permission or at least proper accreditation and some advanced mutually agreed to compensation).

The new outdoor basketball courts at Herman C. Michael Park are ready for some serious sweaty competition whether between father and son or four buddies not wanting to wait for the indoor courts to come open. I like the padded goal stand and even tugged a few of the velcro straps together, and the stone benches add a nice touch.

The plexiglass backboards do not wobble in the least, nor do they have that patented "THONG" sound that so many of us used to playing on school yard courts recall from launching bricks landing on the standard metal playground backboard of our youth well beyond the three point line (or at least in our minds). 

The two twin north and south facing courts have an interesting sprayed coated surface that is both rough and smooth enough. The three point lines are a tiny bit shallow on the corners, but that did not stop my son from drilling three in a row on the old man. I would hazard a guess of no more than 32 people could play on these courts at the same time, and that would be a very generous estimate of four 4 v. 4 half court games going on simultaneously, which I doubt will happen but I hope it does every day.