The orange rim on the far side of the court is bent. The backboard wobbles when a shot hits anything but all net. Keys outlined in white are on each side of the full-court blacktop, but no 3-point arches. There’s no more than two feet of asphalt beyond the out-of-bounds lines separating the court from the field surrounding it on three sides and the chain-link fence on the other.

Secluded in its rural setting, surrounded by vineyards, the basketball court at North Valley School in Lodi doesn’t look like a hot spot for the game at first glance. But for some students at NVS, it’s an escape. It presents a chance they’ve never had before and can even provide a better educational stage than the classrooms on campus.