In 1998, West Park built a gym, and we begin playing basketball. Two days a week turned into three days a week, and we never had a problem finding enough guys to play.
In the past several years, our numbers have changed growing smaller as people have moved away or retired from playing basketball. We still were able to maintain some decent numbers on Mondays and Wednesdays while Fridays included our friends from Cedar Springs.
But now, Mondays and Wednesday mornings have been singular mornings, sometimes including another person to make it just the two of us. As such, I am going to retire Mondays and Wednesdays starting in October 1, 2018, We will continue to play on Fridays until Cedar Springs has established a reopening for Fridays.
In April of 2019, construction will begin on West Park's campus to change the layout and add a few buildings. Those layout changes include more classrooms in the gym. Because of that, they are going to resize the gym from a high school sized floor to a junior high sized floor.
Although we have until April of next year, I believe that Cedar Springs will find a time to reopen on Friday mornings. When that happens, I will stop opening the gym on those Fridays once that has been established.
In addition to the changes in weekly play starting next week, I will also be shutting down the email list which I have been running for about 12 years. I will maintain, however, the website to keep information flowing. You only need to hit a webpage to know if the gym will be open. Any news about the gym and future Friday plays will be found on that website. I also have a few email addresses that I occasionally contact which can also help get that information out.
it's been a good twenty years. I have made good friends along the way, and met people I probably would never have gotten a chance to meet in other settings. We have prayed for each other as brothers and competed in a friendly sport which also provided enough exercise to keep us in shape. These will be some fond memories for me.
Keep an eye here for more information going forward. I will continue to see you on Fridays until further notice.
Mark