The community of Poplar Bluff applauds the recent upgrade at the Black River Coliseum.
Earlier this year, Parks and Recreation and the city of Poplar Bluff collaborated on a vision to install basketball courts inside the coliseum to expand more opportunities for the youth.
With only a month in, Lanny Corcimiglia, the director of the Poplar Bluff Parks and Recreation Department, said since adding the courts, the support from the community has been great.
“The feedback has been very positive,” Corcimiglia said. “Having this here ensures a boost for the economy, but it’s also great that the people in Poplar Bluff can actually watch their kids play in the city. We’ve received a lot of great feedback on the setup and design and just everything about it.”
Corcimiglia said coming together with Greg Smith, the director of the Black River Coliseum and city manager Matt Winters has made the process easy with getting the courts in place for their first large event of the Rib City Shootout.
Since the new addition of the courts, there’s been a bunch of interest as far as more people wanting to do camps and host tournaments. The next phase is to host volleyball games and have an area where the youth programs can host most of their basketball games.
The vision for the new courts is not aimed primarily focused on basketball or volleyball, Corcimiglia said the intent was to give the youth a space to have any activity they wish.
“Having the courts will be great for us,” he said. Whether it’s for pickleball, dodgeball or some different other sport, we have the space for it. Our game plan is to keep growing, eventually enhance this facility, and start building on something new for the future.”