New court needed for hoops action
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Q: St. Catharines is getting a new basketball court for the FIBAs under-18s tournament. How is it different from the one already there?
A: A new basketball court being installed at the Meridian Centre in the next few days will be up to all FIBA specification standards.
That means it will be the exact size with the proper line markings following the rules for the International Basketball Federation event.
St. Catharines director of parks, recreation and culture services Phil Cristi said the former basketball court at the centre, owned by the River Lions, is not a FIBA court.
Cristi said the courts are similar but there are subtle differences. “This is a FIBA tournament so you have to have FIBA courts, FIBA-approved hoops and officiating has to be all FIBA and sanctioned by FIBA.”
The city took the opportunity to partner with Canada Summer Games and Canada Basketball to buy the new court at a cost of $40,000 per partner.
Cristi said most levels of basketball have migrated to FIBA rules, with the exception of the NBA which has modified FIBA rules. That means teams like the River Lions and Brock University will be able to use the new court if it stays at the Meridian Centre as both teams use FIBA rules and had to adapt to the old court.
The FIBA U18 Americas Championship runs June 10-16 and features the best young players from eight countries.
“We’re going to see a lot of these young men in the NBA or in the European pro leagues,” Cristi said. “If anybody is interested in watching high level basketball we invite them to come and see not only our beautiful building but also this high level basketball that’s going to be played here.”
Q: There is a big controversy on Facebook about the correct spelling of St. Catharines. Some say it started with an E and was later changed to an A. Others say it was always was an A.
A: The spelling of St. Catharjnes has been the subject of many a disagreement over the years.
Fortunately, the late Brock professor and historian Alun Hughes researched the name to get to the bottom of it for Search Engine.
Hughes found the first record of the city’s name was in 1796 on a list of 44 settlers who donated money to build a church in the area of St. Paul and Yates streets. The document mentioned the “church at St. Catherines.”
The city’s spelling was never consistent in those early days though. Not only were the “e” and “a” interchanged but an apostrophe before the “s” was all over the place too. It was even spelled with a K instead of a C at times.
When a post office was established around 1820, it was called St. Catherines. Hughes said the first postmaster was William Hamilton Merritt who may have been responsible for changing the “e” to an “a” — his wife was named Catharine.
Q: One of the Rubik’s Cubes outside the Hungarian hall in Niagara Falls is gone!
A: Search Engine has been keeping tabs on the two giant Rubik’s Cubes outside the Hungarian ARPAD hall on Montrose Road with the obsession of a child of the ’80s trying to solve one of the puzzles.
The first sculpture was built for a Canada Day parade in Toronto and the second for a onemonth exhibition by the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa. When the events were over, the sculptures needed a home. The Niagara Falls hall took them in — the Rubik’s Cube was invented by a Hungarian — and had been displaying them both outside.
But a hall spokeswoman said the wind a few weeks ago was too much for the parade cube, which was light and took a couple of tumbles. The hall removed the battered cube which had been ripped apart from its property last month. The other cube built for the embassy display is larger and more sturdy with a base. It’s doing fine and staying put.
Send your queries to Karena Walter by email at karena.walter@niagaradailies.com ; by Twitter @karena_standard or through Facebook at www.facebook.com/ karenawalter