ING-DiBA #SHUTUPANDPLAY 2015 Munich

This past weekend was a very special one for the Kickz.com family as we hosted the ING-DiBa #SHUTUPANDPLAY 3×3 basketball tournament in our hometown Munich. After the cold and rainy tour stop in Cologne two weeks ago, Munich was quite the opposite experience. The blazing sun and temperatures close to 40°C had not only the players sweating. It was a real battle in the historic Olympic Park. The venue was set right between the Olympic Stadium and Olympic Swim Hall, which was only fitting for the great athletes participating in all 7 divisions who played hard despite the tough weather conditions.

Players and spectators alike were happy when they got the chance to spend some time in the shades, dangling their feet in the swimming pools next to our Kickz.com booth or playing some 2K15 – shoutout to 2K Games for providing us with the Playstation 4 towers! The lucky ones were even able to get access to the air-conditioned Sky Lounge with free cold drinks. But they had to be careful not to miss any of the crazy high-flying action taking place outside. It all culminated in the Slam Dunk Contest on Sunday afternoon.

Slam Dunk Contest

The stakes were high and the competition was fierce. Favorite Dmitry “Smoove” Krivenko went full risk and blew his second dunk. Thus Brian Butler (Erdgas Ehingen, ProA) and Arek “Aro” Przybylski from Poland moved on to the final where they put on an incredible show. Aro took home the trophy by the smallest possible margin of only one point. Check out the video recap by Foundation Basketball:

All winding down to the finals

Even though it had already been a long weekend for the teams, the finals on Sunday night brought us some of the best basketball. We have to mention the ladies here. The final between Team Minga and Locker Room was probably the most exciting and well-balanced game. Treys, and-ones, floaters, hard fouls, amazing hustle – the girls showed it all and really impressed the audience. Props to them! The men’s final on the other hand was a bit one-sided. Kwame (2-time K1X Park Authority Champ) and his boys had played a great tournament so far but weren’t able to stop the Nation of Hoop. Brian Butler finally got his hands on the trophy and the price money after losing in the dunking contest before.

It’s been an amazing weekend full of hoops, sun and great people. We enjoyed our home game a lot and are looking forward to the big final in Berlin on July 18/19. The bottom line of ING-DiBa #SHUTUPANDPLAY 2015 in Munich: Basketball in Germany is alive and well!