Toronto Raptors “superfan” Nav Bhatia paid a visit to Mississauga City Hall on Wed., Feb. 12, to deliver a cheque for basketball courts in Malton.

Ward 5 Coun. Carolyn Parrish announced in December that Bhatia’s organization, The Nav Bhatia Superfan Foundation, intended to contribute $150,000 for upgrading courts at Paul Coffey Park in Malton.

At the Feb. 12 council session, Bhatia, who moved to Malton when he first arrived in Canada, said the contribution is to help give young people in the community "a hope and an opportunity to do better than what I did."

“This is all a process to use the game of basketball, the love, the fandom which this game has given me as a superfan, and I want to give it back to this community and the city and the country,” he said.

A city staff report said the money from Bhatia’s foundation would include colour coating the courts, a covered seating area, player benches and decorative fence wrap at the park.

Bhatia’s foundation has also pledged to provide programming for youth in the community at the courts. Part of that programming, Bhatia said, includes plans to hold basketball camps and bring in NBA players during their off-season.

Parrish said the city will only allow Bhatia to book the courts but Ascension of Our Lord Secondary School students, several of whom were in the room, would have “total access to the courts.”

Several councillors congratulated Parrish for securing the investment in the park, but the Ward 5 representative emphasized Bhatia’s role.

"(He) approached me two years ago at Paul Coffey Park and said 'I want to do something for my Malton people,' " she said.