Community Celebration: Wilson Unveils Court Restoration In Honor of WNBA All-Star Weekend

Learn about our court restoration project that brought together basketball lovers and the greater Chicago community to make a lasting impact.

“As theofficial Basketball of the WNBA, we not only want to be known as a brand that people are talking about, but we want it to be clear to everyone that we are in full support of the WNBA,” said Khalid Hannah, Marketing Manager (Global Basketball Partnerships) here at Wilson Sporting Goods.

When we learned that the2022 WNBA All-Star Game was coming to the city of Chicago, we knew it was the perfect opportunity to showcase our hometown and celebrate being bonded by ball with the Chicago basketball community.

In partnership with Young Men Educational Network (YMEN) andPaint the City, we unveiled a court refurbishment accompanied by community programming and a product donation to local youth.

The planning process began when we met with YMEN, a organization that has been in the North Lawndale neighborhood for years helping boys and girls “grow in their faith and character, develop a love for learning, and use their talents to serve the community and strengthen our families.”

We explained to YMEN how we didn’t want to create just any ordinary basketball court.

“I believe art and color bring a different type of positive energy to a neighborhood,” explained Khalid Hannah. “So the goal was to bring art to the court— inspiring a community beyond All-Star weekend.”

From there we reached out to Paint The City, a nonprofit organization that creates art murals on abandoned and distressed properties, to “create inspiring works of art that support the equality of people.”

We told them our plans to unveil the court during the 2022 WNBA All-Star Weekend, and they quickly hopped on board and got to work to bring our idea to life.

Going into this project, we knew the court would leave a lasting impact on the community, but we wanted to take things a step further.

Hannah said, “I kept hearing in my head, ‘Yes, I’m blessed to be able to go to the All-Star Game, but there are a lot of other people that don’t have this same opportunity, so how do we bring the All-Star Game to them?’”

Right Image: Khalid Hannah smiling with attendees from the event

So that is exactly what we did. We invited members of the community to come celebrate the WNBA All-Star Game and play basketball on our new Bonded By Ball court. “We were very intentional about bringing the community to this event.” explained Hannah.

“We shared the platform with our basketball family and allowed these athletes to showcase their talents.”

We catered food from Works of Faith a local small business, entertainment provided by rap duo, hosted training sessions for the kids of YMEN led by Erica Marie— a former collegiate athlete and had special appearances from our very own Kysre Gondrezick and Haley Jones. We are proud to have celebrated the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game in a way that is inclusive and accessible to all.

Pictured above (left to right) is our very own Kysre Gondrezick and Haley Jones

“Sports and basketball are a universal language— regardless of what you’re going through, how you live, or what you look like, sport is what brings us all together,” said Hannah proudly.

And we are grateful to have restored a court that will bring together basketball lovers and the greater Chicago community for years to come.

We hope you go check out the court for yourself and shoot some hoops at 1241 South Pulaski Road, Chicago IL 60623.

Check us out on the ABC 7 Chicago news! & be sure to follow@wilsonbasketballto keep up to date on all things WNBA.

Updated October 3, 2022