Hoopfest 2009

For those of you who are not familiar with Hoopfest, it is the world's largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament and is held in Spokane every year on the last weekend in June. This year there were 6700 teams. Over 200,000 were estimated to have invaded Spokane for the weekend. It really is an amazing event and so well organized! This was it's 20th year and Kareem Abdul Jabar and Al Green were both here. Al Green was here last year. He said after that experience he had to come back. The New York Times even ran an article today about it!

These are a couple of pics that Scott took from his office. They give you an idea of what happens to downtown Spokane for the two days, although this is just a small part of the event.

In our house, it is a tradition as important as birthdays and Christmas. Scott has played every year since 3rd grade (except for 2 years) and he is now 23...you do the math. Shannon has played a handful of times but now works for Bruchis (a subsandwich stand) that cooks at Hoopfest. I think she probably works harder than most of the players. (She won't let me take pictures of her at work!)

Scott has played in different brackets throughout the years. He has played on men's teams and coed teams. This year he played in the family division. He played with his cousin Ryan, cousin Miranda and her husband, Ryan. This picture was taken right after their first win!

They won their first two games on Saturday so they didn't have to play again until Sunday. Whew! The temperatures were actually decent at upper 70's to low 80's but it is always so much hotter on the blacktop of the streets. It was much better than last year's 97 degrees. Sunday wasn't as lucky for Scott. They lost their first two games so they were done at noon. Win or lose, Scott loves Hoopfest. You can bet he (we) will be back next year!

One of the rules with coed teams is that a girl has to be on the court at all times. Miranda was our only girl, so she played the whole time. She did great!

The second game on Saturday was fun because Scott's friend, Brandon, jokingly bet Scott that he couldn't shoot six 2 pointers. (At Hoopfest, they score 1pt and 2pt shots instead of 2pt and 3 pt shots). Well, Scott got the crowd's attention when he dropped four 2 pt shot in a row right off the bat. He also got the other team's attention! It was a little harder to get the next two, but he did! He must have sparked something, it was a 2pt shooting fest for both teams. The crowd was in awe! This was one of those shots.

Of course, he does love to play defense, too!
In between games, Scott and Holly found some shade in the park.

Oh yea....one of Scott's other favorite Hoopfest activities....everyone needs a nap between games. Another fun Hoopfest! I wonder how many more he will play.....