KaBOOM! Playground Design Day with Bradley Beal

Students at Eagle Academy Public Charter School will be seeing red, white and blue this fall as the Monumental Sports and Entertainment (MSE) Foundation has joined forces with KaBOOM! to build a playground themed around the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics for the Washington, D.C., school.

While the playground will not be built until Sept. 26, Wizards guard Bradley Beal and members of the KaBOOM! design team met with children from the school on Tuesday, July 9, to brainstorm ideas and concepts.

“We’re going to build a MSE-themed playground and make these kids’ dreams a reality. We’re really excited about it,” said Elizabeth Wodatch, executive director of MSE Foundation. “The Capitals have done two other playgrounds so this is the first with all three teams involved. We’re hoping to have Wizards, Capitals and Mystics players out to help with the build.”

Beal joined the children as they each drew out their ideas for the school’s playground and shared them with the group.

“It was a lot of fun. It was just a few years ago when it was me playing on the playground,” Beal said. “My favorite part was definitely interacting with [the kids] and drawing.”

KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to giving kids the childhood they deserve by bringing play to those who need it most. Since 1996 KaBOOM! has built more than 2,300 playgrounds. MSE Foundation supports the charitable efforts of the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics and focuses on the following five pillars to maximize its impact on the community: education and scholarship, hunger and homelessness, military and veterans' affairs, pediatric health and fitness and youth basketball and hockey.