Braiant Acuña grew up playing basketball in the heat. No matter how high the mercury rose, he and his friends hit the asphalt outdoor courts to indulge their passion.
Now Acuña is happy to help the kids in his neighborhood hoop it up while avoiding the dangerous temperatures. The 21-year-old former Flowing Wells High School basketball player works at the new Sporting Chance Center, an indoor sports facility meant to let youths play safely and cheaply.
So enthusiastic was Acuña when he showed up for open gym that management took notice of him and offered him a job.
“I had two little interviews, and they hired me right on the spot,” he said.
Acuña, who handles maintenance at the center, takes pride in keeping everything looking new and fresh.
“It’s a really nice facility,” he said. “Everyone that comes in here always has something to say about how this is a really nice facility.”
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Sporting Chance Center, 2100 W. Curtis Road, hosts basketball, volleyball and other indoor sports. Tucson Medical Center, Pima County and Southern Arizona Community Sports partnered to develop the center, which is owned by the county. No tax funds were used to build the center, but the county donated the land and is covering part of the utilities and maintenance costs for the next 10 years.
The 40,000-square-foot, wood-floored indoor gym, which opened Aug. 5, was designed to be a hotbed for youth basketball and volleyball.
Don Tringali, founder and executive director of Southern Arizona Community Sports, which operates the facility, said the community has been grateful for the indoor park.
“Neighborhood kids are starved for a facility like this,” Tringali said. “We’ve had as many as 50 kids a day in here for open-play basketball.”
Admission for open gym is $2 for adults and $1 for kids. Times vary and are posted weekly at the center’s site, www.sportingchancecenter.org. Much of the time, club and school teams use the facility to practice. There are also camps and tournaments.
Sporting Chance Youth Basketball, the Tucson Medical Center-funded Community Benefit Foundation and the Tucson Conquistadores provided the $6 million it took to build the facility.
There is enough space for as many as five basketball courts or eight volleyball courts.
“It’s really playful,” Tringali said of the atmosphere. “It’s great. The local kids have embraced us and are having so much fun. It’s great to see how open play brings different communities together.”
Operations Manager Tom Carle said the facility is full of good will and eager competition.
“It’s going really great,” he said. “People love the facility. We wanted to make it a really inspiring, inviting place, and so far it’s turned out to be what we expected. Maybe even more.”
Remembering what it was like before the facility makes Acuña appreciate it all the more.
“We would play during the hottest days,” he said. “Even during the winter, we’d go out there and play until steam was coming off our bodies because it was so cold outside. We didn’t care, as long as we could play basketball.”
Those days are gone, thanks to the Sporting Chance Center.
“All the boys in the neighborhood who grew up playing in the park were so stoked we were getting a new court,” Acuña said. “They come and play, and every one of my friends is in awe when they come here. They look around and are so impressed with what we’ve got in our neighborhood.”
