Boys & Girls Club Gym Gets Facelift, Brooklyn Nets-Style

The children of Madison Square Boys & Girls Club in Fort Greene have some new digs to show off their athletic prowess, as officials unveiled an extensively renovated Brooklyn Nets-themed gymnasium Wednesday afternoon.

"It took two months to renovate," Shawonda Swain, unit director at the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club, told Patch.  

Funded by Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark, the renovation of the Navy Yard Clubhouse included new gym wall padding, customized bleachers and a scoreboard.

"[Yormark] was looking for a place to work with," Swain said. "They thought we were a good match."

The renovated gym emulates the Nets practice court at the arena, including the team's black and white color schemes and logos, and marks the first completed project by the Yormark Family Foundation. 

"Basketball has always been a big part of my life, so I'm delighted to dedicate this beautiful new gym to the kids of the Navy Yard Clubhouse at the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club," Yormark said. "It's particularly meaningful to me to reinvest in the young people of Brooklyn and provide them with a positive environment. I hope that when they see the 'B' in the Brooklyn Nets logo on the court, they will be inspired to play hard and be a great teammate, as our players do every night."

Executive director of the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club Joseph Patuleia said the renovations will "prove instrumental in empowering the community's most at-risk youth to live a healthy lifestyle through commitment to physical fitness, and will encourage teamwork and cooperative learning through activities that will occur in our state-of-the-art gymnasium."