The DU Undergraduate Student Government (USG) has plans to build an outdoor basketball court on the south side of Centennial Halls by 2011.

The courts are being built because of demands from freshmen for more amenities in the dorms.

Funding has not yet been set aside for the court.

USG is working with administrators to determine where the money for the courts will come from, said USG President Jim Francescon.

The idea for the basketball court came up over the summer and was approved at the beginning of the year.

If the Centennial Halls outdoor basketball court is a success, then USG plans to build a second court on the west side of the Johnson-McFarlane residence hall in the spring.

USG senators also proposed developing outdoor sand volleyball courts with the basketball courts. However, after meeting with Mark Rodgers, university architect, USG found that the sand volleyball courts would cost significantly more than the basketball courts to maintain, and decided against volleyball courts.

According to Senator Mindy Stone and USG President Pro-Tempore Milan Chatterjee, USG hopes that these basketball courts will bring the student body together by instilling a greater feeling of a localized community while encouraging students to go outside and exercise more, even if the Ritchie Center is not next door.

“Our goal is to make residential living more enjoyable for everyone at DU,” Chatterjee said.

Outdoor sport areas might be expanded to all other residence halls as well in the future.

“We may get there,” Francescon said.”Let’s start with one or two great courts and we can always expand. This administration can cover the cost for one or two and future administrations can cover the remaining – if the project is a success.”

If these basketball courts are popular, there is a possibility that they could later include intramural sports areas throughout campus.