DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTOS
Church Street became B‑street, as in Basketball, as City Hall and New Haven’s Department of Youth Services played host to a two-day, tri-city tournament aptly titled Hoop it Up.
With a section of Church Street cordoned off between Chapel and Elm, 12 temporary basketball courts hosted dozens of 3‑on‑3 teams from Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven, as well as a number of out-of-state competitors.
The tournament Saturday and Sunday drew 600 youth players along with 2,000 family members and friends, according to city youth services chief Jason Bartlett. It raised $15,000 toward expenses and included two concerts, amusements for the kids, and 1,000 book and 150 basketball giveaways.
Leonard Jahad (left in photo), who was at the tournament to support several teams, had high praise for New Haven basketball: “New Haven is a basketball town. New Haven basketball is gritty-gritty basketball. When we play, everything is love.”
Amid all the love, came lots of scrappy competition as teams of all ages faced off between City Hall’s neo-Gothic arches ….
… and the tree-lined oasis of the New Haven green.
Older players hustled to grind out a victory …
…. as their smaller, younger counterparts were no less determined.
The drive to win was strong as players …
… jumped …
… scrambled ….
… dribbled and guarded …
… and at times, hit the ground — hard.
Those on the sidelines focused on the on-court wizardry….
… while others volunteered in support of the tournament. Erica Blake (left in photo) of University of New Haven and Naomi Carroll of Eastern Connecticut State University were on standby to register players who had not already signed up for the tournament.
Team Ballaz, hailing from Patterson, N.J, eagerly awaited their game ….
…while others hydrated and waved.
DJ Pzo Pete, in the WYBC (94.3 FM) booth, kept the turn tables spinning saying they were “just trying to avoid the rain” that had been predicted for later in the day.
Among creative team names like “Methodmen,” “Justice League,” and “Ghetto Runners,” the “Kevin Brown Allstars” had a noticeably more serious name and demeanor. The team traveling from East Hartford “representing both sides of the bridge” was named in commemoration of a close friend who had passed away.
For some, the tournament was as much about family as it was about teams. Paul Colon of West Haven, brought his children to participate in the tournament.
Although too young for tournament play, Paul Colon Jr., barely 3, also tried his hand at Hooping it Up.
