Robin Goldsworthy is the publisher of the Crescenta Valley Weekly. She can be reached at robin@cvweekly.com or (818) 248-2740.
B-Ball in DT
Part I
With the graduation in June of our youngest son from Crescenta Valley High School, there was some sadness in our household that we no longer would have the chance to see our boy play basketball.
Danny played Falcon ball all four years at CV and long before that in organized teams throughout the foothills. Although he did more bench warming that board hitting in his senior year, it was a rare game that was missed by either dad, brother(s) or me. So you can imagine how excited we were that he and a couple of his buddies signed on to play this past weekend in Nike’s 3on3 Tournament in Downtown Los Angeles at L.A. Live.
I was totally unprepared for the utter transformation of the area for this tournament. Apparently 3on3 competitions are rather popular in the mid-West but not so much here. This year’s tournament was the third annual event with the inaugural tournament hosting over 500 teams and more than 13,000 players and spectators back in August 2009, according to their website.
Part of Olympic, Figueroa and Chick Hearn Drive were closed down for the tournament. Half courts were taped off by the hundreds providing enough courts for the expected 4,000 players, which were of all shapes, sizes and physical abilities. There were little kids, teenagers, adults and wheelchair players.
The tournament is open to every kind of “baller” whether they participate in a recreational league, are an intramural player, a gym rat or are an AAU or YMCA participant. Even couch potatoes were encouraged to come out and play.
Though our team didn’t seem to think there were alot of rules, the outline on the Nike 3on3 website seemed to list a bunch. Basically, though, the boys interpreted the competition pretty much as street ball. I was curious as to how our well-trained Falcon boys would fare.
With no uniform requirements, our boys tapped into their childhoods and had T-shirts made up emblazoned with the Thundercats cartoon figure. On back were their “street” names: Steady, Flash, Birdman, Afroman. Finishing their “uniform” were shorts reminiscent of what you’d find in the ’70s topped off with sweatbands.
A team to be reckoned with? Perhaps.
Next week – more on how the Thundercats fared in DT.
