Streetball

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

Streetball is an urban form of basketball, played in playgrounds and imitated in gymnasiums across the world. It has been prominently featured as part of the AND1 company's heralded "Mixtape Tour" across America which has vastly popularized the game with extensive media coverage.


Contents

[edit] Rules and Features

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.

Certain rule violations in traditional basketball, such as carrying, do not apply in Streetball. Style is often the determining factor in what is and is not legal in a Streetball game - if it looks good, it's not against the rules. In this sense, Streetball is as much performance art as it is an athletic contest.

However 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. 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 interpertations 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 7,10 or 11 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 2, 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.


[edit] Streetball Slang

Slang Definition
crossed, schooled, dropped, shook For the defender disoriented to the point they stagger-step and possibly fall
jam, slam, flush Dunk
Alley Oop A shot made in the air from a pass
stuff, swat, rejection When an opposing player's shot is blocked
screen, pick To block a player with your body in order to free up a teammate
rainmaker, rainbow A made shot, usually with a high arch.
ankle breaker A crossover, fake, or burst of speed so vicious that the defensive player slips or falls down
and one The basket is good and the additional shooting foul
The J.C. Slam The ballhandler, near the hoop, bounces the ball over the defender's head and proceeds to dunk it.

[edit] Famous streetballers

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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