Please see "Playing in the dark" by clicking on the Storyline tab to the right. This article is a follow-up to "Playing in the dark."  

The NBA season is rapidly approaching and many youths will be heading out to shoot hoops in their neighborhoods. However, depending on where a child lives, he our she may have few opportunities to play outside.   

John Anderson, a regular at the Southside Park basketball courts, laments that many parks are taken up by soccer and picnic tables preventing him from playing football. Dy'Andre O'veal, another regular at the courts, adds that, "we don't really have a place where there's room to play football." Thus, after-school activities are limited to TV, the computer and video games, or worse, roaming the streets, getting into trouble.   

After seeing a relative sent to jail for, "hanging with the wrong crowd," at age 13, Anderson learned first-hand that playing basketball was, "a good way to stay out of trouble." Anderson, now 22, has been playing everyday since then.   For Anderson, basketball is peaceful; it's his quiet time and it relaxes him. He enjoys the pickup games because everyone who shows up is friendly - they introduce one another and there is never any fighting. O'veal says "to me, [playing basketball] is more fun. I just like it - it's good exercise."   

Outdoor recreation should be something the community supports and fosters, especially when it involves youth. With childhood obesity and diabetes on the rise, it is extremely important to engage youth in physical activities and make exercise a fun and safe part of each day.   

How important do you think it is for youths to have after-school activities and access to outdoor facilities that encourage exercise and fitness? Do you think lights should be constructed for all community basketball courts? How high of a priority should the City make this kind of development/enhancement? What else can we do to help encourage physical activity for the youth in Sacramento? Are there other parks that you think need lighting?

Photos of the Southside Park basketball courts as well as John Anderson and Dy'Andre O'veal can be found in the "Playing in the dark" article. To access this, please click on the Storyline tab.

Please comment below.