INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A new basketball court at an Indianapolis city park came with a goal to uplift a community as part of a WNBA All-Star 2025 Host Committee’s legacy project.

Thursday’s ribbon-cutting at Al E. Polin Park was a celebration as well as a promise to keep Indianapolis youth on a path to leadership and community connectedness.

The event happened as downtown Indianapolis is preparing for the WNBA All-Star Game, 8:30 p.m. July 19 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Mel Raines is CEO of Pacers Sports and Entertainment, which including the WNBA Indiana Fever team. He said at the event, “This is the biggest reason why we do it. The events themselves are fantastic, and it’s great to involve the community, but to be able to use the court in years to come, thousands of families and children will be able to use it, that’s why we do these events.”

“This court is one of many examples we have an initiative called State of Play. We’ll be having courts across the state of Indiana. We do a handful every year, and hopefully one day we’ll have every court in the state of Indiana with some of our brands on them.”

Kids in the community were already making memories Thursday. Camp counselor Aleana Torres brought her Riverside Park campers to the upgraded court for a basketball session. “They’re full of hope and really excited. I just really like being able to see the kids enjoy themselves, be outside. A lot of them are connected to telephones, so when they get outside and they can do things like this, it just makes me really happy.”

The renovation was part of a $1 million legacy investment from the WNBA All-Star 2025 Host Committee in partnership with Indianapolis Parks & Recreation and The Parks Alliance of Indianapolis, impacting four Indiana youth-focused organizations through wellness, leadership and education.

For these organizations and local leaders, this is part of a larger mission to give kids a safe, positive place to grow, and keep them off the streets.

“There’s this overwhelming sense of community whenever you redo a space. It makes it more welcoming, more inviting. A lot more people feel a lot more integrated in what they’re doing. Even if they’re just playing basketball, it becomes so much more,” said Torres.

The city has planned more improvements to the small park that sits east of North Meridian Street along 29th Street: a $600,000 project that will build a new playground and walkways. That project, funded as part of an $80 million Lilly Endowment Grant to Indy Parks & Recreation, was expected to be completed sometime in 2026.

Other projects WNBA All-Star Host Committee from WISHTV.com

• Youth facility gets $1 million in upgrades from WNBA All-Star Host Committee
• WNBA All-Star host committee funds mural project at Fletcher Place Community Center
• Ribbon-cutting for Fletcher Place upgrades from WNBA All-Star Host Committee

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