Community Corner

Crystal, Lieberman To Snip Ribbon at L.B. Basketball Court

Ceremony for DreamCourt grand opening set for Sunday.

Billy Crystal is coming home to his home court this weekend.

The Long Beach native will join with Nancy Lieberman, a Hall of Fame basketball player and two-time Olympian, to headline a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new DreamCourts, the redeveloped basketball courts behind the Recreation Center, at 660 Magnolia Blvd., at 10 a.m. Nov. 10. City Council President Scott Mandel and other city officials will take part in Sunday’s ceremony.

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In 2010, the Nancy Lieberman Foundation partnered with Connor Sport Court International and the WorldVentures Foundation to produce the Foundation's first DreamCourts in Frisco, Texas. According to the foundation’s website: “The goal of the DreamCourts program is to provide children in underprivileged communities with a safe area to play basketball, participate in free basketball clinics, interact socially, and learn important lessons about teamwork and good sportsmanship.”

Crystal and Lieberman announced their plans to build a DreamCourt in Long Beach in June, when Crystal donated $1 million to the City of Long Beach for its post-Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. The money was generated mostly from a fundraiser that Crystal backed with other celebrities. A portion of the funds would go toward rebuilding the basketball courts, located along the bayside of the city. 

Lieberman, a Far Rockaway native who played for the U.S. women's national team and in the WNBA, said that she and Crystal made the donation to help the city "recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy."

The City Council on Oct. 1 approved a $83,519 contract with the Utah-based Connor Sport Court International to rebuild courts.

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