A Day at the Riyadi vs. Sagesse Game

Thanks to Mac’s planning, we were able to fill two buses full of GAM3 youth. One bus was for the boys, the other for the girls. We met in Qas Qas and caravanned across half the city until we reached the Corniche, where the Riyadi Gym sits just a short walk away from the picturesque lighthouse at the western most point of West Beirut. Faces beamed with excitement, as this was the first professional basketball game for many of the kids.

We got into the stands a little before tip-off and after moving around a bit in an attempt to find enough room for all our guests we eventually settled just behind the cheering section for the Riyadi team. The cheers, accompanied by a middle-eastern style drum, were loud and apparently quite motivating as Riyadi went up 12 to nothing to start off the first quarter against Sagesse. Some of the 15 and 16 year old boys watched from the sidelines until they were asked to move up into the seats while the younger kids sat together, some accompanied by their mothers and fathers.

After Riyadi’s bench fueled rout of Sagesse, the stands emptied back out into the street . . . but we had something else in mind for the kids so we kept them from getting on the buses too soon. We waited for fifteen minutes until we were eventually greeted by two of the team’s stars, Ismail Ahmad (F) and Omar Turk (G), and though they were only able to shake a few hands and visit with us for a few minutes it made the kids day. It was a good feeling to watch the faces of GAM3 youth as they piled back onto the buses, full of excitement.

GAM3 Zone practice # 7

Drills, thrills and new free food for the kids. GAM3 coaches have taken the time to work on free shots and lay-up, along with passing and running with dribbling the ball.
Fine weather today at GAM3_Zone, pratice # 7 in Nasr City, where sunrays lite the asphalt and kids in orange and blue covered the courts.
They arrived in the GAM3 bus, old but gets the job done. Eager to start the GAM3, eyes full of learning fuel and bodies built to get better. Coaches with eyes on latent and getting the best out of their groups, kids step up to the task to prove they are ready for GAM3 Camp. As we will form teams at the end of the Zones, for them to compete at the CAMP…

As always our GAM3 volunteers get the zone organized and register new kids on the spot to give chances for new talents to participate and improve their skills.

One of the kids' parents even invited the GAM3 crew for her daughter's birthday this week?! as well as coming up after practice for fish!! :)

New B-Ball Courts in the Bourj Al-Baradjne Refugee Camps, Sunday Rain

On Saturday, a few of us went to the Bourj Al-Barajne Palestinian Refugee Camp to watch as Saad Al Jamal, a senior engineer with ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) who has worked on reconstruction efforts in Darfur, Iraq, and southern Lebanon; tested the structural integrity of the roof where GAM3 plans on building basketball courts along with a single football field. The roof itself sits atop a former factory hollowed out two decades ago by a bomb during the civil war, the bottom-most floor now being used as a plastic recycling center.
With support from the governing bodies within the camp, GAM3 hopes to have the first of many basketball courts built in a few months. It will be placed smack in the center of the large space to accommodate spectators on the sidelines, and though the first few steps have been made, there is still much work to be done as everything from worn out shoes to spent shotgun shells find themselves tangled between corrugated steel-bars.

The news of these proposed courts have been spreading quickly through the camp, sparking interest in GAM3’s Qas Qas Sunday basketball practices, and though one resident seemed more interested in football than hoops, asking for only one court to be built alongside many soccer fields, I have a feeling even he will come around eventually.

After a good rain Sunday morning, Mac phoned the coaches and the Palestinians asking them not to come. The downpour leaving only one out of the six courts available while the rest had collected small Rorschach-like puddles leaving most of the playing surface available only for drills, making half-court games a hazard if not nearly impossible. As usual, the girls did their best despite the conditions, and its worth noting, that only a few were absent.

The numbers were low, but it wouldn’t take long for that to change. About halfway through the exercises a group of boys from the Sabra camp, some of whom we haven’t seen since the second meeting, asked to participate in some passing and shooting drills. Due to the lack of coaches this Sunday, a backup was brought in to help with the sudden influx of participants. Harry, the substitute coach worked primarily with the Sabra kids until they decided that they had better things to do. We found them in the adjacent soccer field, kicking the ball high into the air. Hopefully, as word spreads, more kids such as these will come out seeking the warm air and structure of GAM3’s Sunday practices.

ZONE_6

GAM3 Zone_6 starts with re-fixing two broken boards, which have fell face down, wind blew them, so they say?
We have counted on the coming summer but it never came...Rain and basketball drills were in tune. Coaches started off with passing and lay-up drills; there were a few talents on the courts helping out with the practice as the rest of the kids started to look up to.
Interrupted by rain, we ran for shelter, but some of the kids took this chance to show their skills, that is basketball in the rain kinda skills.
The day started with a sprinkle on the courts after we have swiped them from last night...so, the rain came down to clean it all up. Then, it came back the last half hour of the practice and never left. We did...

Amazing how social integration can be visible when all differences disappear for one cause BASKETBALL.
Good practice. Three seasons, winter, spring and bits of summer.

The Seventh GAM3 practice in Qas Qas, Beirut

As the seventh practice of GAM3 was under way the full swing of spring’s weather took hold across this city of two million people, the sun opening the skies with the bright rays of summer minus its oppressive humidity. I’d say it was about seventy-five degrees when I arrived, just in time to catch Coach Mohammed wrapping up some chest pass drills. He then transitioned directly into a set of exercises designed to help the ball holder work on his dribbling technique while a defender attempts to swipe from behind.

And though the boys of all ages are progressing well, the girls, as might be expected, seem just a bit better at following instructions. They stood in line as, one after another, they took turns dribbling towards the basket, then going straight for the lay-up.

Just as Lebanon’s political situation has been calm, minus the usual volley of words, so have been the Sunday mornings here in Qas Qas, Beirut. The kids are getting to know their coaches and each other better and, after every passing week, more and more shots are finding their way into the hoop. After practice, apparently bitten by the basketball bug, the coaches found themselves in a half court game with the oldest boys. It finished without a winner after the coach for the middle group of boys sprained his ankle. He dunked his leg in ice then wrapped it and looks good-to-go for next Sunday, but there probably won’t be any dunk competitions for him any time soon.

GAM3 Zone Cairo - Practice 4

After Friday prayer, we are gathered again for another yet more active practice at our GAM3 Zone Cairo. A hundred and five partcipants on a hot day of clear skies and Basketball...

As our coaches gathered the ages and grouped the kids, hoops were the target in a full coloured day. With a few parents on the sideline the interest for GAM3 grows every week as kids from basketball clubs show interest in joining our practice. One more basketball court to serve the masses, is ready to give space for the increasing numbers, for there will be no room for football!!