Streetball league tips off with 160 teams as Gulls players coach youth sides

The opening tip came just after ten, on a park court in Kestrel Park still damp from overnight rain. Within an hour, all four half-courts were busy, with teams waiting their turn along the fence. Wrenhaven's 3x3 streetball league has started its new season with 160 teams, up from 70 a year ago.

The league is free to enter and open to anyone aged 12 and over. Games last ten minutes or until one side reaches 21 points, and are played on outdoor courts in Kestrel Park, Northfield, Harbourside, Millbrook and Tidewater. Organisers say about 40 per cent of the teams are in the under-16 divisions.

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Gulls on the sideline

New this season is a coaching scheme involving players from the Wrenhaven Gulls. Six members of the professional squad have each taken on two youth teams, attending at least one match a fortnight and running a short skills session in their spare time. The club covers travel and provides kit for the youth teams involved. Gulls guard Andre Sumner said the arrangement had been the players' idea. "Most of us learned on courts like this," he said. "You remember the older player who stopped to show you something."

The rim is a bit bent and the lines are faded, but nobody here cares about that.

League coordinator Hana Petrovic said the growth had come mostly through schools and word of mouth. A small grant from the council's sport fund pays for balls, scoreboards and first-aid kits, and volunteers referee most games. "We could not cope without them," she said. "Some weekends we have 60 matches across the city." Petrovic added that the league had deliberately kept the rules simple so that newcomers could join in without feeling out of their depth, and that mixed teams are welcome in every division.

• 160 teams are registered across six age and ability divisions.

• Games run at weekends on outdoor courts in five parks.

• Finals will be held at the Gulls' home arena next spring.

Fourteen-year-old Marcus Adebayo, whose team won both opening games, said the coaching had already made a difference. "He told us to stop all running to the ball," he said, nodding towards Sumner. "It sounds obvious, but we won by eight." Organisers hope to add two more courts before the season ends, subject to council approval.