No-cost court a winner

Floreat resident Louis Morel (18) and Churchlands resident Oliver Tate (17) said they play basketball at the court twice a week since it was completed. Louis said it was easy for people who lived near Perry Lakes Skate Park, like himself, to get to the court for a game.

"There is Challenge Stadium too but you have to pay," Louis said. "This is just casual and you can meet new people and have a game with friends."

Former City Beach Basketball Club president Kerry Clarke successfully petitioned the Town of Cambridge in 2010 to create a court that local children could use free of charge.

It took 290 signatures and five years but the new court finally came to fruition last month.

Cambridge Mayor Simon Withers acknowledged that designing, funding and building the court had been a slow process.

"Some people had complained about the costs of the new State Basketball Centre," he said. "We needed to give kids more free play."