Playing hard (Photo: Ron Pierre Kehler)
Last weekend, the centre of the 3×3 basketball universe was in Cologne, Germany. Though the weather god didn’t seem to be much of a basketball fan, roundabout 100 teams celebrated a weekend of hoops. Teams from all over Germany and the neighboring countries came to play in front of the spectacular backdrop of the Mediapark. The supposedly second-warmest city in Germany surprised with strong winds and some rain showers throughout the weekend, which provided quite a challenge. But that didn’t stop the ballers and the crowd from having a good time. Complaining about the weather was not on the agenda, true to the motto “shut up and play.” A number of ProA and ProB players and young talent joined the action and put on a good show. Despite the bad weather you could really tell that folks in Germany had been craving some good streetball action since the glorious days of the T-D1 Tour and NBA Basketball Challenge.
Of course, not everyone was able to come to Cologne and some might have just chosen to stay at home due to the weather conditions. For all those, we at KICKZ.com provided a special service. Via the new Periscope app we streamed a good amount of action – live and direct. People from distant places like Indonesia, Canada and Spain tuned in to our broadcasts and were able to interact by commenting and leaving likes. We believe that Periscope is a powerful tool to connect with fans, customers and, in general, people from all over the world who share our passion and lifestyle. We will continue to livestream from the upcoming tour stops as well as other events in the future. If you’re not familiar with Periscope yet, read our blog post to learn everything you need to know.
The crowd was going wild (Photo: Ron Pierre Kehler)
On sunday afternoon it was time for the spectators to grab some free popcorn from the KICKZ.com booth and make themselves comfortable at the center court. Knock-out phase, 3-Point shootout and slam dunk contest got the crowd excited. Luckily, just in time for the slam dunk contest, the sky cleared and the crowd really got pumped. Dunk Elite athlete Kristaps Dargai from Latvia took home the trophy but the local competitors weren’t bad at all. Anton Zraychenko, Lennart Weichsel, Samuel Khelifi and Robin Pflüger really came to play. Props to them!
All hail the champs! BN-OL took home the price money in the All-Star category and will represent Bonn and Oldenburg at the big final in Berlin (Photo: Ron Pierre Kehler)
ING-DiBa #SHUTUPANDPLAY 2015 is far from over. There are still two more events coming up: on July 4./5. the legendary Olympic Park in Munich, site of the 1972 Olympic Games, will be the place to be. Due to the high demand, the organizers created additional slots for teams in all 7 categories. So if you want to participate, be quick and head over to shutupandplay.eu to register! The final tour stop will take place on July 18./19. in Berlin, which will serve as the last qualifier and the final of the tournament series. You can find all information and the latest news on the shutupandplay Facebook page as well. Enjoy some more impressions from the Cologne event in the following gallery and the official recap video!
