The Lincoln Community Center is a recreation center located in Highland, Ind. It offers a number of facilities such as a fieldhouse, fitness center and banquet hall. Along with offering these facilities it offers an open gym where young boys can go to play basketball.
“I was just looking for a local place to go hoop with my friends and that was the closest place to go to,” Declan Lain (10) said.
Numerous students from Lake Central attend the Lincoln Center to play basketball every weekend. These students wanted an affordable place they could go to so they could play basketball with their friends.
“In sixth grade I was looking up places to go play basketball that were cheap and the Lincoln center popped up. I was 12 so it was just around $5 to play,” Alberto Pulido (10) said.
Not only does this community center offer basketball but it offered lessons from others that would impact the students lives forever. Many of the young boys believe they would not be who they are today if they did not discover the Lincoln Center.
“I used to go there every weekend to just play basketball and if I didn’t go there before I wouldn’t be the same basketball player as I am today,” Pulido said.
For some of these boys they have been attending the Lincoln Center for a while now. Not only have they gone over the years to play basketball but they go when they need to think or to clear their mind.
“I would just go over there to clear my mind, listen to music and would run around the track a couple of times,” Pulido said.
Along with offering life lessons, this community center also introduced lifelong friendships. These friendships not only consisted of Lake Central students but also Munster and Highland students. The boys are grateful for those friendships as they would not have them if they didn’t go to this community center.
“I’ve meet people from there that are from Highland and Munster that I’m still friends with that I didn’t know before,” Lain said.
As the years have progressed the Lincoln Center has seen a variety of ages attend to play basketball. More recently older guys have started to attend, making the pick up games more competitive.
“It’s definitely more competitive now and there’s a lot of older guys that show up now so that kind of gives me more experience cause I play with the older kids,” Pulido said.
Basketball players of all different competitive backgrounds come to compete against each other. Many of the players compete against players with more experience in order to improve their own skills.
“It made me a better player by competing with people who were better than me,” Dominic Juarez (10) said.
Though the Lincoln Center has changed over the years it still holds a close place in the students’ lives. Most of the players would recommend the Lincoln Center to others if they are looking for a great place to play basketball and to improve their skills.
“If you don’t live far from [the Lincoln center] like in Dyer or Schererville then yes I’d recommend it but if you live in St.John I’d suggest you to go to the Crown Point YMCA,” Pulido said.
