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Streetball

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Streetballers at the Venice Beach basketball courts, California, USA.

Streetball is an urban form of basketball, played on playgrounds and in gymnasiums across the world. Usually only one side of the court is used, but otherwise the rules of the game are very similar to those of professional basketball. The number of participants in a game, or a run, may range from one defender and one attacker (known as one on one or mano-a-mano) to two full teams of five each.

Streetball is a very popular game worldwide, and some cities in the United States have organized streetball programs, such as midnight basketball, as a way for young people to keep out of trouble and avoid problems such as juvenile crime and drugs. Many cities even host their own weekend-long streetball tournaments. Hoop-It-Up and the Houston Rockets Blacktop Battle are two of the most popular. In recent years, streetball has seen an increase in notoriety and exposure in media due in part to television shows such as ESPN's "Streetball" and "City Slam", as well as traveling exhibitions such as the AND1 Mixtape Tour and Ball4Real.

Rules and features

Kids playing streetball in Paris, France, in winter

While the rules of Streetball are essentially/theoretically the same as normal basketball, Streetball places a higher emphasis on one-on-one matchups between the offense and defender. Often the attacker will perform numerous flashy moves while attempting to drive to the basket, including crossovers, jab steps, and other fake-out tricks. Streetball often features spectacular dunks and alley oops, impressive ball handling, and trash talking. Also featured in streetball are moves. A move is either used to trick the defender to look away, or just to confuse. There are many different moves in the streetball world.

Rules vary widely from court to court. Almost invariably a "call your own foul" rule is in effect, and a player who believes he has been fouled, simply needs to call out "Foul!", and play will be stopped, with the ball awarded to the fouled player's team. Once a foul has been called the point scored will be automatically canceled if the player makes the basket in. The etiquette of what rightly constitutes a foul, as well as the permissible amount of protestation against such a call, are the products of individual social groups, as well as of the level of seriousness of a particular game. An outsider at a playground should closely observe the status quo in these matters. Some areas where different interpretations of rules are likely to occur are: 1) travelling - whether a step is permissible prior to dribbling, and how many more than the nominally permitted one and a half steps should be allowed at the end of the dribble. 2) hand (and leg) - checking on defense - how much can one touch the person one defends and how much physical pressure may one apply in so doing.

A common feature to Streetball is the 'pick up game'. To participate in most Streetball games across the world one simply go to an outdoor court where people are playing, indicate a wish to participate, and once all the players who were at the court before you have played you will get to pick your team out of the players available and play a game. Many games play up to 7, 11, 15 or 21 points with all baskets counting as one point (sometimes shots beyond the 3 point arc count as 2 points). Ballers often play 'win by 2' which, as in tennis, means that the team has to win by a margin of at least 2 clear points. Sometimes a local "dead end" limit applies; for instance a game may be played to 7, win by 3, with a 9 point dead end, which would mean scores of 7-5, 8-6, 9-7, or 9-8, would all be final; while with scores of 7-6 or 8-7, play would continue. The most common streetball game is 3 on 3 played half court though often 5 on 5 full court can be found.

A unique streetball feature is having an "MC" call the game. The MC is on the court during the game and is often very close to the players (but makes an effort to not interfere with the game) and uses a microphone to provide game commentary for the fans.

Variations

A popular variation of street basketball is 21, also known as "Hustle." 21 is played most often with 3-9 players on a half court and is a "every player for itself" game with much looser rules than even streetball. Rules are fluid, often differing regionally or even by court, there are no rules. A very challenging game, it is popular because it allows an odd number of people to play, unlike regular basketball or other variants. "21" is also known as "American".

Major organized streetball crews

Streetball is often generalized as a "pick-up game", where players may or may not know one another, and is for the most part recreational. But recent years has seen the rise of organized streetball crews, such as AND1. With AND1 setting the precedent, many crews train as a team specifically for streetball and often play in exhibitions. Some crews present slickly produced videos and DVDs for sale or available on sites like YouTube displaying highlights, dunks, and tricks. Streetball teams like Ruff Ryders, Terror Squad, and others which compete in summer leagues, such as EBC, tend to play a more "serious" game with less tricks, as the stakes are higher the games not being exhibitions (friendly matches).

Famous streetballers

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