VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Friendship Village Apartments community in Virginia Beach will get a new basketball court and playground, councilman Aaron Rouse announced Monday.
Neighbors expressed excitement and anticipation for the upgrades.
"There are so many kids here who lack the recreational activities to really be proud of their community," Rouse said. "This is just the start. You talk about communication, teamwork, problem-solving, exercise, mental health - having recreational activities provides all of those things for you."
Rouse, who grew up in the Friendship Village community in the Historic Seatack area of Virginia Beach, said other City of Virginia Beach leaders and Community Housing Partners helped him develop this project.
“There’s only one way in and one way out of Friendship Village so these kids are essentially landlocked, this is all they have." Rouse said. "This is a start to really attract the youth to positive career paths...make sure they stay away from trouble."
Currently, the lone playground in Friendship Village has a cracked slide and a parking sign blocking off the slide's entrance.
For years - without access to a real court - children in Friendship Village have played "curb ball", a basketball variation where two people stand on opposite sides of the street, shooting to hit the curb for points.
On Monday, Marquel Walker and Don Wilson played curb ball in the neighborhood. They said they're very excited about a real basketball court.
Another neighbor told 13News Now the recreation equipment upgraders are "what we need in communities to uplift kids and let them know there's always a future."