Basketball in the SOMA with Tim Figueras

Sports and active lifestyles are critical to the health and well-being of a community. In the South of Market, basketball has been a favorite activity of the community for decades, and continues to play a critical role in the neighborhood’s youth programs – a story that starts with Canon Kip and its recreation center, with programs led today by United Playaz. Tim Figueras, who led the programs for years in the South of Market, tells us the story.

“Canon Kip had a gym back in the day on Natoma and 8th, and that was really a central part of basketball in the South of Market. Back then, Parks and Rec didn’t have many facilities in the neighborhood and the District was arguing for more programs for the youth. In the 1990s we started a team on Sixth Street. Once Parks and Rec closed down Canon Kip and it became mostly senior services, a lot of the guys who played at Canon Kip started to play at this organization called Young Life, which was just up the street from the Recreation Center,” Tim says.

At the heart of the program’s philosophy under Tim Figueras’ leadership was the significant role sports can play in the development and well-being of individuals – both in the short and long term. This was especially true for children growing up in the South of Market, a neighborhood that featured very little green space at the time, In fact, the SOMA has the fewest acreage of park space in the City to this day.

“When I was the Director of the program, my big goal was just to get people to play. If they showed even the most remote interest – especially if they were in the gym late at night, just hanging out – I would ask if they were interested in playing ball. Because I knew about the realities of the streets at the time, and I knew sports could be a positive alternative to all of that. And in Rec and Park leagues, you could have a kid start playing as young as kindergarten and first grade! So I figured that if they learned to play ball, especially at a young age, they would be in a position to make their school team in Middle School, and then in High School, and so on. And unlike a lot of the other Rec Centers in the City, we had a lot of girls who came to our Rec Center in SOMA. So we had a really robust girls’ program that Kevin McInerney led, and we had lots of teams as the years progressed. Of course, I’m not saying that if it wasn’t for these basketball programs that the kids couldn’t have made it. But I do think that it helped them a lot,” Tim says.

Today, the program is led by Sal Villalobos of United Playaz, who was a youth in the Parks and Rec programs that Tim Figueras helped create. Countless others who played in the SOMA as young people now serve as community leaders across the neighborhood’s network of CBOs. Basketball-wise, the program has seen many of its graduates go on to play high school and college sports. It has succeeded in creating a legacy of positivity and well-being in the neighborhood.

“Thank goodness for Sal, who played for us as a kid with his brother and his sisters. The lone SOMA basketball program now is through United Playaz. Misha Olivas and Heather Phillipes helped out a lot with that process,” Tim says.

“United Playaz has been able to keep these programs going with the support of RPD. We have raised money to pay fees, buy uniforms, and recruit coaches so kids have a chance to play. And we open it to all Bessie students – so it’s not just open to UP kids but also WestBay, Galing Bata, what used to be YMCA, and even kids who don’t go to an afterschool program. It’s all just to make sure kids have a chance to play sports before it becomes super-competitive, because they can learn valuable life skills like teamwork and perseverance!” says Misha Olivas of United Playaz.