Ricardo Jr. Watches The Right-Hand Dribble

Out in the street in front of City Hall, the taller 9‑year-old Buccaneers of East Hartford were dominating New Haven/Hamden’s 8‑year-old Three Kings with only five minutes left in their 15-minute duel.

Then Three Kings coach (and 1990s Hillhouse High School basketball great ) Ricardo Harris noticed that the Buccaneer guarding his son could dribble only with his right hand.

Had his son noticed this? He took Ricardo Harris, Jr. momentarily out of the game for a courtside chat that might give the team the edge they needed.

That coaching and teaching moment from father to son unfolded during the annual fifth edition of the Connecticut Big 3 Ballout (CB3B) three-on-three basketball tournament. It drew about 700 players and equal number of family members and spectators over the weekend.

Saturday’s rain forced the first day of the tournament into the fieldhouse at Hillhouse High School. On Sunday hundreds played on temporary courts set up on Church Street in front of City Hall, showing off their skills in age brackets of two years each from 7 all the way to 30 and above.

Participants included teams from New Haven and Greater Waterbury, Hartford, and Bridgeport in a competitive festive contest designed to let kids feel good about what they do well, while they meet others from around the state and stay productively engaged.

That was the spirit of the event, the ​“baby” of city Youth Services Director Jason Bartlett. Bartlett corralled 50 volunteers including 16 refs and 16 score-keepers„ along with lots of water for hydration, free hot dogs, and complementary little backpacks for every player containing T‑shirt, bracelet, and water bottle.

Another feature of the New Haven version of three-on-three hoops is that all the kids register without a fee. Michael Baran, of Streetball Productions, who helped Bartlett set up the hoops and other infrastructure, said that is unusual among the tournaments he’s familiar with.

For the tournament’s first three years, Bartlett worked to stage the event with Hoop It Up, a national organization promoting three-on-three street-style basketball. For the past two editions, he and the city have made the project their own.

Hoop It Up had aims such as promoting three-on-three as an Olympic sport, Bartlett said. ​“My perspective was to engage the kids, give them a different experience, play in front of City Hall, bring all the neighborhoods together and invite other cities.”

To that end, the city has purchased and is storing all the movable equipment, such as the baskets and their supports, the specialized court flooring, and barriers.

For players’ families and other non-playing spectators, the Green was arrayed with a half dozen colorful bounce houses. Music played as teams filed on and off the courts. The younger players checked out the moves of the older players, and kids from different New Haven neighborhood evaluated the hoop skills of kids their age from others.

Back over at the court in front of the Amistad statue, where the games featuring the youngest players were being held, Ricardo Harris, Jr. was getting some help on the court from teammate Carmello Moore. Young Moore happens to be the son of Bobby Moore, Ricardo Harris, Sr.‘s teammate on that 1990s Hillhouse High School team. Moore was the fifth-ranked high school guard in the country, according to Frank Redente Jr., another organizer of this weekend’s event.

So this squad had some naturally born talent.

“They’re bigger, but it doesn’t matter,” Harris urgently whispered to his son, who was mopping a drop of sweat from his eye. Then the father/coach pointed out that the Buccaneer player was dribbling only with his right hand. That meant that his son, if he paid attention, could anticipate in what direction the Buccaneer might make his move.

With that foreknowledge, the littler player didn’t have to play as close. ​“Give him some room,” the elder Harris counseled. ​“You can’t give him a size and a speed advantage.”

“You hear me? Heart over height,” he added, as he sent his son back into the game.

Watching his son intently, Harris averred that kids 8 years old just don’t notice these things.

Zarkee Sanders, the third starter on the team, made several drives toward the basket, but was put off his line to attempt a layup by the larger Buccaneers and missed his shot. The game ended in an 8 – 4 win for East Hartford.

In all age brackets, the rule is ​“two and out,” which means you need to lose two games to be eliminated. The Three Kings went on to play another team, but with 8‑year-old, more or less their own size.

Redente praised the tournament as a way to ​“encourage fathers to be part of their sons’ lives through basketball.” Bartlett said that kids up their game when the competition is brief and intense against kids from other cities.

And how was it for Ricardo Harris, Sr. to watch his son pick up pointers?

“It’s a special feeling. It’s more nerve-racking than your [own] playing [yourself],” he said.

“The next iteration” for CB3B is to do this in city neighborhoods, said Bartlett. He suggested that the equipment could be brought, for example, to Fair Haven, where the large Latino community there could take advantage, and then have winners of neighborhood tourneys play a finale in front of City Hall.