COURT A SLAM-DUNK WITH KIDS.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - It's not often a bunch of 4-footers can spend a morning making slam dunks.

But when your neighborhood park gets a new set of adjustable hoops, even a 10-year-old can do some slam 'n' jam.

"When you're able to dunk, you don't feel that short anymore," said Garret Holaday, 10. "It's like you can fly."

Garret, two brothers and a neighborhood friend got a chance to fly Thursday morning as volunteers from two local Rotary clubs installed new basketball hoops at Volunteer Park on 42nd Street next to Mount Vernon Elementary School. The newly paved court with hoops is one way the Springfield and Twin Rivers Rotary clubs are celebrating the organization's centennial.

Darrall Imhoff, a former NBA player who played his final season with the Portland Trail Blazers, is helping organize the project. Now a vice president at the U.S. Basketball Academy near Blue River, Imhoff used his connections to get a deal on the top-end, adjustable-height basketball hoops.

"These are Cadillac hoops," Imhoff said as he and several other volunteers assembled the backboards.

The hoops usually sell for $3,000 a pop, but Imhoff got them for half price from Kansas-based Pro-Bound Sports. The all-volunteer project also got deals on the concrete, and the crew will be back to paint stripes on the regulation court and do some landscaping around the edges.

Imhoff said the project was chosen as a way to help the community in general and kids in particular.

"Kids like to play hoops," said Imhoff, who was one of the players trying to guard Wilt Chamberlain the night he scored 100 points. "They need a place to recreate and have a good time."

Garret and his brothers - Brant, 12, and Taron, 8 - and 12-year-old Andrew Hill made the most of the hoops' debut. They spent the morning cranking them down to easy slam-dunk height then raising them up to see how high they could jump.

Imhoff said that soon the hoops will be locked at a height that's enough to prevent damage or injuries from older kids hanging on them, probably 9 feet instead of the regulation 10 feet, but they still can be lowered for organized tournaments and other events. Even then, it will be nice to have a new place to go and shoot baskets.

"It's good to be able to just walk a couple of blocks and come over and have some fun," Garret said.

CAPTION(S):

Former NBA player Darrall Imhoff (far left) and members of two local Rotary Clubs set up adjustable basketball hoops at Volunteer Park in Springfield on Thursday. It wasn't long before some local boys tried out the newly paved court and new hoops. R e c r e a t i o n