With UConn basketball coach Kevin Ollie looking on, 20-year-old Jamie Roland, who has Down’s syndrome, and six-year-old first-grader Sofie Turek, whose spirit is not slowed by a neurogenetic disorder, took the shots of their lives. Swish. Swish.

A third swish came from Ollie as he announced at a Friday , Dec. 26 ceremony at the Mandell Jewish Community Center in West Hartford that his charity the Kevin Ollie Charity Classic is donating $50,000 to build “Kevin’s Kourt at Jonathan’s Dream Reimagined.”

Amy Barzach, co-founder of Jonathan’s Dream, one of America’s first inclusive playgrounds, said that “Kevin’s Kourt at Jonathan’s Dream” will be the first inclusive Bankshot basketball court in Connecticut.

“Kevin’s Kourt at Jonathan’s Dream’ will help children and families, of all ages and abilities, discover the freedom of playing together without limitations,” said Barzach.

“Kevin’s Kourt at Jonathan’s Dream” will have up to nine stations created by Bankshot™, which has pioneered inclusive basketball play structures based on total-mix diversity and universal design.

“I’m going to come over here in the summertime, in the springtime and just take a seat on the bench and relax and watch all the kids playing. It’s going to be a wonderful and exciting thing to see this court go up,” Ollie said.

Jonathan’s Dream, on the campus of the Mandell Jewish Community Center, was built to honor Barzach’s son, Jonathan who lost his battle to spinal muscular atrophy in 1995. Barzach, her family and an army of 1,000 volunteers built the original Jonathan’s Dream in 1996. Jonathan’s Dream Reimagined will feature new equipment and experiences. It is being rebuilt under the leadership of the “Jonathan’s Dream Team”, an alumni task force of Leadership Greater Hartford. ‘Kevin’s Kourt at Jonathan’s Dream’ will allow all of us, regardless of ability, to dream,” Ollie said.

For more information visit www.jonathansdreamreimagined.org.

CAP: At the Dec. 26 ceremony at the Mandell JCC: (front row, l to r) Ted Carroll, president, Leadership Greater Hartford; Amy Barzach; Sofie Turek; Jamie Roland and Coach Kevin Ollie; (back row) Leadership Greater Hartford student volunteers.