The Legend of the Heaven's Playground

It all started with a birthday and a book. When my dad, Paul Kiczek, turned the big 5-0, he was offered many presents from his family. However, the one that he most wanted and the one that he thought the whole family could enjoy was a simple basketball hoop. Little did he know he would soon drastically change the face of basketball in New Jersey. The movable Huffy hoop, with glass backboard, got much use when it was first installed. The perfect position for the hoop was often debated. While seemingly a nice place to play basketball, it was still an ordinary hoop in just an ordinary driveway on an ordinary street.

But everything seemed to change one warm summer evening. As the glowing orange rays from the setting sun crept their way up the blacktop driveway, Brian Skurka and I were shooting around. We decided it was soon time to take it in. Before we entered the house, Brian seemed to stop and take one more look at the surroundings. He looked to the surrounding hills, the soft glow of the setting sun, the rays bouncing off the glass of the backboard, and the dirty, dust covered basketball, bouncing a little less each time as it was left to the hot summer night. He saw all of this and said, "Hey, you know what we should call this?"

"What, Brian?" I was prepared to hear another one of Brian's strokes of genius.

"We should call it 'Heaven's Playground.'"

It sounded perfect. As my lips mouthed those sweet words, I realized how suitable it was. So the name stuck. And this is were the book comes in. You see, Brian really shouldn't get all the credit. A couple of years ago, Brian read a book called Heaven is a Playground by Rick Telander. In it, the author chronicles a year he spent in the project playgrounds of NYC. His theme was that the playgrounds of inner cities were a place where dreams came true. So, I guess you can say we owe a lot to Telander.

Well, soon senior year began. Brian, Greg Walsh, and I began to think about having a bunch of guys over for a small basketball tournament. My house seemed to be a good place to host it. There were places for people to sit and it was rather easy to get to. That fall, many nights were spent playing basketball into the night, until my old psychotic European neighbor would scream that we had to stop "doing the bounzing of ze ball." He says it was driving him crazy. The winter was obviously not the best time to conduct a tournament. But just because we weren't actually playing didn't mean we took a break from dreaming about the ultimate b-ball tournament. The Heaven's Playground Shootout was discussed over many school lunches, over pizza, at parties, and especially in Peer Leadership classes. It was here that every idea began to germinate and become more and more real as the spring approached. Many others found out and everyone was excited.

As the final days of senior year approached, after we had out college acceptances in hand, and realized we no longer had to do any work, a date was determined. June 10th, yours truly's birthday, was to be the date. Everyone wanted to help and so many did. When June 10th arrived, after proms and a couple days before graduation, northern New Jersey was abuzz with excitement about the tournament to end all tournaments. The weather was perfect. The t-shirts were in. The Pearly Gates were officially opened. It was time.

Justin Kiczek