Courts for sports
New basketball and futsal courts are expected to open downtown in May. Former OU and NBA basketball player Taylor Griffin joined Mayor David Holt last week for the groundbreaking of Together Square. Adjacent to Myriad Botanical Gardens, Together Square is being developed on the block occupied until 2014 by the Stage Center theater. The property was slated for a new OGE Energy Corp. headquarters but the utility dropped those plans after the theater was demolished. OG&E, the Energy Assist Foundation and the Team Griffin Foundation partnered with the Myriad Gardens Foundation on the new park. Together Square will host the Memorial Marathon finish line support tents and activities on April 28. The marathon includes a new course that will take runners into south Oklahoma City. The finish line is moving from Automobile Alley to the central business district. Futsal is a variant of soccer, played on a hard-surfaced court with up to five on a side, instead of 11. Holt, who turns 40 next month, said he looked forward to playing soccer and basketball on the new courts, just a couple of blocks south of City Hall, at Sheridan and Hudson avenues. The park will link Myriad Gardens to the growing John Rex charter school; John Rex sixth-graders attend classes at the Gardens. Myriad Gardens will take responsibility for landscaping and programming the new park. Tim McLaughlin of the Energy FC soccer team said the partnership includes the U.S. Soccer Foundation and its Soccer for Success curriculum, with after-school and summer components focused on character development, healthy habits and keeping kids in school. McLaughlin called the partnerships a “dream team” for youth sports. “Love the theme, I think it sets the stage for everything. Together Square,” he said, “it's kind of what our city's about.” McLaughlin said Energy Assist is working with Oklahoma City parks to locate up to 10 futsal courts around the city.