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Posted: Monday, July 9th, 2012 9:10 AM HST

New covered play courts open at Panaewa

By Ken Hupp - 67AM KPUA News

The Department of Parks and Recreation held a grand opening Saturday for Panaewa Park’s new $3.1 million multi-use Covered Play Courts and the reopening of the park’s Family Center. Mayor Billy Kenoi called the event one of the proudest days of his administration. “A lot of people criticized this project when we first proposed it and funded it by saying why do we have to spend this kind of money on a recreational facility?” Kenoi said. “And we remind them that this isn’t about just the facility, that this is not just a place where coaches teach kids to pass, dribble and shoot, but they teach kids about sportsmanship, teamwork, hard work, respect and aloha. And simple values that the more you put in, the more you get out.” The 26,000-square-foot building features three regulation high school basketball courts that can be transformed into regulation volleyball or tennis courts and a retractable, overhead netting system allowing the courts to be used simultaneously. The newly restored Family Center adjacent to the play courts includes an expanded multi-purpose room measuring more than 1,400 square feet and will provide a public meeting and gathering space that will house a computer lab and future Summer Fun programs. Also unveiled was a new multi-sport scoreboard that was installed to serve the main softball and football fields.