In "How to Transform," why does the narrator want to go to the gym in Balboa?

The narrator's passion is playing basketball and he has been working steadily to improve his game. He knows that if he can "put in enough hours" his game is "gonna blast off" (3). He decides to find the best pickup games in the city as a way of challenging himself to improve and overhears some other players one day say that the Muni Gym in Balboa has the very best players.