ROCKFORD — Annie Hobson has been looking for a place to play basketball. She hopes she has finally found it.
Since early April, Hobson has been among several women ages 18 and older who have participated in the women’s open gym at Washington Park Community Center.
“It has been a joy to be on the court,” said Hobson, 29. “There’s a lot of fun and competition.”
The open gym was established to fill a void for adult women basketball players in the Rock River Valley, who have found it hard to find a competitive environment to play.
Danielle Potter, who is the Rockford Park District community recreation manager, has helped to facilitate the open gym opportunity with the help of the Park District and other community supporters.
Potter said the idea is to get enough women involved so that the open gym can become possibly a four-team league that can start this summer and go from there. It will depend a lot on participants’ interest.
“We wanted to first see if there is a need and what we have found is that there are women who are very interested,” said Potter, who played both high school (Boylan) and collegiate basketball (Rockford University). “It’s exciting to see them playing on the court. The issue is that we need more to come.”
Potter said numbers have increased from nine to 16 since the open gym started on April 13. The open gym is held on Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. and the center charges a $2 day pass. The open gym is expected to run through June 1.
Hobson, a former shooting guard at Auburn, said she’s been looking for an opportunity like this for some time. Last year, she and several of her friends played pickup basketball games at various gyms around town, but eventually it had to stop because those time slots were filled mostly by established local men recreational teams.
“Having something like this will represent so many women who love to play basketball and want to continue to play it,” Hobson said.
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