BUCKLAND — With $43,000 in donations secured, Mohawk Trail Regional School will be able to construct a new outdoor basketball court next spring.
Varsity girls basketball coach Steve Bzomowski said that after the success of last season and the excitement that came from the team qualifying for the state tournament for the first time, he spent a lot of time thinking about what the team needs and what he can do to grow, and came up with the idea for a new basketball court.
“After the pandemic, sports took a dip, and there’s been a resurgence in participation recently… the school is creating a new identity with sports,” Bzomowski said. “Everybody was really excited and it pointed to having other new and exciting things for the team.”
“One thing that was really missing was an outdoor court.”
steve Bzomowski
Outside of coaching the Mohawk Trail girls, Bzomowski runs Never Too Late Basketball, which has offered training camps for athletes all over the country for over 30 years. Throughout his decades in the basketball world, he’s built a network of basketball enthusiasts, which he was able to tap into to get pledges for a free-throw fundraiser.
Bzomowski said he asked donors to pledge per basket made out of a hundred. Pledges ranged from $0.50 to $100, and having made 96 out of 100 free throws, he raised $43,000, just shy of his goal of $50,000.
“I’m confident we’ll get the other $7,000,” Bzomowski said.
Earlier this month, the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee unanimously approved the use of school land to build the court, to be paid for entirely with funds raised by the Mohawk Athletic Association.
“Steve’s been doing a huge amount of fundraising and has the bulk of the funds needed to do the land clearing, put the asphalt down, and then they’ll be doing some additional fundraising to take care of the finishing touches on the court,” School Committee Member Budge Litchfield said.
The new court will be located between the school building and the football field, where there is currently a small group of trees.
Litchfield said the trees were at the end of their lifespan and needed to be taken down anyway for safety reasons.
“The trees are very old. They’re dropping limbs constantly. It is time for them to be said goodbye to have something pretty valuable, at no cost to the district,” Litchfield said.
School committee members expressed their support for the project, especially if the funding was donated and no district money would be needed to complete the project.
“If you want to have a good basketball team, they’ve got to be out there dribbling and shooting on a regular basis,” Litchfield said.
Bzomowski said he and athletic director Greg Lilly are working to finalize details of the construction. Their tentative plan is to have the court installed next spring. In addition to financial contributions, they are hoping to get local contractors to donate labor.
Bzomowski said that not an hour goes by without him thinking about the team, where they are at, and where they are headed. As he reflected on what he could do, he came up with a “state-of-the-art outdoor basketball court.” He added that once completed, the new court will offer kids more space to play, practice, and continue to grow their skills.
“I think it’s definitely doable in the community, and I think it’s gonna be something we can be proud of and will be something our kids can use for years to come,” Bzomowski said. “Anything we can do to keep the progress going is worth the effort.”