Early last month during morning Cardio Blast Workout residents here at Applewood Place, A Juniper Senior Living Community, were furiously tossing balls to one another as a part of aerobic and coordination training, when Jack breathlessly commented, “What we really need is a basketball hoop!” Other attendees in the class were quite in agreement.
We tossed around ideas of cutting a hole into a laundry basket and using heavy gauge wire to rig something up, but nothing seemed quite right. I happened to need something from our Maintenance Director, Doug Lindamood and his Assistant Tim Brown, when I took the chance and ran our idea of a laundry basket-basketball hoop. Doug downplayed the idea as it really would look shoddy.
I left the idea there, but a seed had planted itself in Doug’s mind, and lo and behold, a week later when I walked into the exercise room, there were Doug and Tim perched on ladders hanging a regulation basketball hoop. That morning there certainly were smiles on our faces.
Since then, Jack has made shooting hoops a regular part of his exercise routine, and I have been blessed to throw a few myself. We are often joined by other residents who enjoy the rigor of aiming to sink a ball, and who knows, with the dream of challenging Lakewood Reserve, our sister community, maybe we can make a Juniper Tournament a reality too!