Volunteers Give Bridgehampton Child Care Center's Basketball Court Some Tender, Loving Care

A small group of volunteers descended Sunday morning on the old basketball court at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, where many of the players who starred on Bridgehampton High School’s many championship teams honed their skills in weekend pickup games over the years.

But Sunday’s mission, sponsored by an organization called Full Court Peace, focused more on teaching current Bridgehampton players how to properly paint the baseline than drive it.

Robert Durkin, who residents familiar with the local restaurant scene will remember as the owner of Karen Lee’s restaurant in Bridgehampton, as well as Robert’s in Water Mill and the Paradise Café in Sag Harbor, organized the court restoration project.

Durkin said he learned about Full Court Peace through its efforts to renovate courts at Holcombe Rucker Park in Harlem and made a connection with the organization’s founder, Michael Evans, and encouraged him to bring his skills to the childcare center.

Durkin said he had maintained ties with former Killer Bee coach Carl Johnson, who allowed his son, Adrian, to join practices and basketball camps.

Evans, who played basketball at Hamilton College, got involved in an organization called Playing for Peace, when he lived in Ireland after college. The goal of that program was to encourage Catholic and Protestant children in the north to learn how to play together, despite their different upbringings.

He eventually created Full Court Peace to focus on basketball and has overseen the renovation of more than 200 courts in the decade-plus since he formed the organization. During that time, Evans said he has traveled across the country, including building courts in Wyoming Indian country and in Colorado. He said he has made nearly 50 trips to Cuba, where he helped rebuild courts across the country. “Their courts were in shambles,” he said.

The Full Court Peace approach is pretty simple. After agreeing to refinish a court, Evans shows up with gallons of paint, rollers, caulk guns, tape, and other supplies, including new backboards and rims, if necessary.

Volunteers gathered at the Child Care Center in Bridgehampton at about 9 a.m. Sunday, to sweep the court clean, pull weeds out of cracks and tape the lines. Evans uses traffic striping paint for the lines and nonslip floor paint for the center circle, lanes, and an arc around each inside the three-point shot line. In Bridgehampton, rather than use gold and black, the colors associated with the school, the volunteers painted the lanes gray and the arcs and keys, red and green. The project was finished, with the court ready to play on by mid-afternoon.

Donations to Full Court Peace can be made by visiting fullcourtpeace.org/donate, or sending a check to Full Court Peace, 83 Washington Street, Unit 2K, Norwalk, CT 06854.