Venice Seaside carried all of the traits of a celebration Sunday night; 90s R&B tunes from DJs, social influencers — with tripods in tow — exhibiting as much as get a view of the basketball courts to search out what the fuss was all about and sufficient flashing lights to seize any European vacationer’s consideration.
A lot of what you’ll have discovered throughout Legends Weekend in Venice — celebrating 20 years of basketball tradition and neighborhood — had the traditional hallmarks of the antics discovered on the boardwalks, right down to the crowds surrounding performers resembling “2K The Clown” and his posse dancing in clown make-up on the half-court emblem because the blue and orange sundown pale day to nighttime.
Marcus Henry spins the golden ball he acquired after successful the three-point contest on the Veniceball’s twentieth annual “Legends Weekend” at Venice Seaside on Sunday.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Occasions)
On the middle of all of the insanity, a weekend honoring Kobe Bryant — who as soon as broke his wrist in 2000 trying a dunk on the courts — and lots of different late street-ball icons who made their impression on the boardwalk was Nick Ansom. Ansom, who rollerskated up and down the basketball courtroom with a plastic orange prime hat atop his head, is the founder and CEO of Veniceball.
Ask the legends — who’ve been taking part in bodily, hard-nosed basketball on the courts for half a century — or up-and-coming basketball gamers who’ve made Venice their very own with their slick fashion on the courts, Ansom is the center and soul of modern-day Venice basketball, the person who’s stored the mission — of basketball and household — shifting and rising yr by yr.
“This is the goodness of people right here,” Ansom stated, earlier than the finals of the Venice Basketball League kicked off on Sunday night time. “Look where we are. We’re a legendary place, the most iconic basketball courts in the world. I call it the hoopers’ paradise.”
Hoopers’Benic paradise began with Ken Hicks, who helped begin organized Venice basketball within the Seventies. Hicks, who grasped the microphone to share phrases of knowledge on Sunday, was handed his literal flowers from Ansom halfway via the day’s occasions. Venice, Ansom stated, represents a basketball tradition that remembers its previous whereas additionally honoring its current, too.
Gamers compete in the course of the closing sport of the Veniceball “Legends Weekend” at Venice Seaside on Sunday.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Occasions)
Ansom, who’s French, moved to Venice from France when he was 13 years previous in 2000. He realized English on the boardwalk, discovering solace on the basketball courts, carving his approach right into a neighborhood he hoists on his shoulders right now.
“Basketball is a universal language all over the world, and we ball here 365 [days],” Ansom stated. “I was here at midnight, playing last night and playing with somebody from Australia, a couple of drunk guys living in Venice, and it’s just the beauty and magic of basketball that unites us. It transcends colors. It transcends borders.”
Sunday’s occasions included a youth 12U basketball all-star sport, a Venice legends five-on-five sport, a vertical soar contest, a 3-point contest, a dunk contest, a star sport and lastly, the VBL males’s finals. Every occasion supplied its personal aptitude.
Rasheed Smith, a Venice basketball participant who performed within the Legends sport Sunday, has been hooping on the boardwalk for 48 years. Two months in the past, Smith pulled right into a gasoline station and caught sight of a 1989 black Cadillac limousine. He walked as much as the proprietor and handed him his telephone quantity, asking that if he ever considered promoting, Smith wished to be the primary name.
Two weeks later, the proprietor referred to as. Smith bought the limo. There was a objective. He knew it was the perfect match for certainly one of Venice’s high-flying dunkers to leap over to create a brand new signature dunk for Legends Weekend.
“Doesn’t that sound awesome?” Smith stated earlier than the dunk contest.
Certain sufficient, the dunk turned a spectacle, simply as Smith predicted. Chris Staples, a basketball social media star identified for his out-there dunks, took Smith up for the problem — successful the dunk competitors with a leap and slam over the limousine.
Chris Staples, a former Harlem Globetrotter and world slam dunk champion, soars over a limousine whereas dunking a basketball. Staples gained a dunk contest Sunday at Venice Seaside.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Occasions)
“I did not think that was the plan,” Staples stated when requested if he ever imagined a limo could be part of his dunk repertoire Sunday. “But [Legend’s Weekend] always brings out the adrenaline, the energy, and I just want to be able to get my fans and supporters a live show.”
Staples’ dunk earned 10s throughout from judges, Josiah Johnson, Rafer Alston, Craig Smith and former Lakers participant Cedric Ceballos, who can be the commissioner of the VBL.
Johnson, the previous UCLA males’s basketball participant and son of Marques Johnson, who was featured on the Venice courts within the 1992 movie “White Men Can’t Jump” starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, stated Venice is the closest you’ll discover to road basketball in New York.
“It’s got that West Coast Rucker Park kind of vibe,” stated Johnson, who as soon as sponsored Legend’s Weekend along with his short-lived 2016 Comedy Central present, “Legends of Chamberlain Heights.”
Gamers compete throughout Veniceball’s “Legends Weekend” competitors at Venice Seaside on Sunday.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Occasions)
Alston, who earned his “Skip to My Lou” nickname throughout pickup basketball runs at Rucker Park as a youngster earlier than embarking on an 11-year NBA profession, acknowledges the tradition on show in Venice.
Very similar to Smith, who touted the bodily nature of the courts that constructed a aggressive ambiance whereas additionally constructing a household, Alston understands the way in which basketball fosters camaraderie.
“I grew up in around this type of community, so I know what it means to a community like this, man,” Alston stated. “It’s a day every time they have this event. Everyone’s having a good time. Everyone’s happy when we’re all together here.”
