Furdenheim basketball players turn abandoned site into sports ground in just one day
At the initiative of the club president, Jean Kohler, the basketball players from Furdenheim installed and painted in a single day a synthetic gerflor floor on an old tarmac court abandoned. A collective adventure for young orange ball lovers but deprived of a room.
A “Fufu” on is a bit crazy, and on claims it. Building a basket lot yourself is already asking for a hell of a price limit. Doing it in a single day, by immediately mobilizing around twenty young people on the site of an abandoned city stadium is quite an achievement.
Yet this is what Jean Kohler, president of Furdenheim, managed to achieve alongside young people made redundant on Friday, April 2. Installation of red and blue gerflor blades, a synthetic surface that will be used this summer at the Tokyo Games, installation of new baskets and marking on the ground: meticulous operations carried out in record time and almost on a whim.
The semi-trailer on the way before the green light from the town hall
“We have been carrying out with the town hall a project for an outdoor site, next to the schools and the multipurpose hall, since the start of the second wave of covid. VShas had time to set up and the health crisis is not helping, explains Jean Kohler. So I had the idea of rehabilitating the old macadamé ground of the village so that our young people can continue to play basketball outside since they are deprived of a gymnasium. The idea was to do everything ourselves “
Neither one nor two, the president places an order with a Lyon company specializing in gerflor, a synthetic floor, even before the green light from the town hall. The municipal council, meeting in an emergency during an extraordinary meeting, then validates the project unanimously. “The semi-trailer was already on the way at the time of the meeting, but we could not be refused such an initiative”, he adds all smiles.
A request for general mobilization received 5 out of 5
The only condition is that the new city stadium must remain accessible to everyone, including footballers. Everything then follows very quickly. The members of the club will receive a message in their mailbox on the evening of Wednesday March 31st calling for general mobilization. “We’ve all been summers, confides Niels Walter, 18, who is playing in the junior category, because the president asked those who could be present two days later. “
About twenty basketball players, flanked by a handful of adults, are present. “We were really excited, explains Niels. For my part, I have not replayed the basket with other people since October. VSso good to find people. “
It’s hard and cushioning at the same time. For the supports, it’s perfect “
After a day of work laying and nailing the elements to the ground, at 7 p.m., just before the buzzer curfew, the work is finished. Red and blue on the ground, lines drawn with the help of a painter and new panels installed in place of the old ones, real professional work and a great collective adventure. “We played all Easter weekend. The surface is also top notch. It’s hard and cushioning at the same time. For the downforce, it’s perfect,” assures Niels.
16,000 euros “only”, enough to give ideas?
In all, the express operation will have cost 16,000 euros to the ACSL club Furdenheim, a “reasonable sum “ which could give ideas to other clubs in the region, even in France. “Gerflor is half the price of macadamia, slips Jean Kohler. And if the epidemic manages to continue for a few more months, that offers us a real tool to allow young people to play basket and to live their passion. “
A legitimate pride. It was worth a “Fufu” painted in white and in capital letters in the center of the field. A rectangle that will undoubtedly become very quickly the place to be for many young basketball players in the sector in need of an orange ball.