It was a big party. A Sunday dedicated to basketball. Not in the hall, but in the sun. No club sport, no league, instead basketball in its original form. Streetball. As a meeting place in the park for gambling, talking, celebrating. Basketball is something special. There is hardly anything else where you just go to a court and play with others, no matter with whom. But that's anchored in this sport. Streetball and basketball belong together. There is still something like the football field here, which is so sorely missed in football.
So it was an enjoyable gathering in Darmstadt's Bürgerpark, where the independent scene, where basketball fans have had a home and meeting place for decades. When the American soldiers still lived in the city in their barracks, this is where the hottest matches were played. In addition, students and streetball players from the city and the region, where you often saw a higher level than where the local clubs competed. Even after the Americans left, the two outdoor courts on the Bürgerpark remained a basketball hotspot and a sporting cultural center with players from all over the world. Old, young, black, white – a colourful mixture.
Top and many amateur players
After it had also become quieter in the Bürgerpark during Corona, life has long since returned to life, especially on the basketball court. This time, the independent scene presented itself with a tournament in the new Olympic high-speed format three-on-three, which was a success with DJ music, a barbecue station and a great atmosphere. Sixteen teams were at the start, the usual colorful mix. A few top players and many amateur players. Good level. More than 200 people played and celebrated, and many a club official who stopped by will have wondered how much joie de vivre and sense of community sport can convey on such a day. The tournament was won by the Young Guns, the team of Darmstadt junior national player Leon Fertig.
The memorable basketball day was organized by the S.K.A. Basketball initiative, whose abbreviations stand for streetball, culture and activism. It describes itself "as a basketball community of the Bürgerpark in Darmstadt, which, as a non-organized streetball initiative – regardless of origin, language, age, sexuality, social or cultural background – promotes subculture, structural peace, basketball and the expansion of high-quality public sports areas."
Initiative and petition
The specific goal of the initiative is the complete renovation of the basketball facility. Since the city of Darmstadt has not yet been able to get beyond talks with this concern, the event on Sunday was also intended as a sign to show those responsible and the authorities how large, peaceful and creative the free basketball community in Darmstadt is. Representatives of the city, including the mayor responsible for sports, Barbara Akdeniz, were invited to see for themselves, but unfortunately they were unable to attend.
The S.K.A. initiative began in Corona times in 2021. When the rules allowed, she organized an indoor basketball tournament through the Socially Critical Working Group. This gave rise to the initiative and a petition for the complete renovation of the facility in the Bürgerpark, inspired by the Frankfurt facility at the ECB, which now also has a floodlight system thanks to municipal help.
"For many, many years, almost nothing was done," says Adam Rami Rieble, the spokesman for the initiative. "It's broken floors, and baskets that have been repaired and maintained by the community itself for more than ten years." There were then talks with Sportstätten GmbH, also with Akdeniz. The initiative presented a 14-page restructuring concept. The cost is around 200,000 euros.
As a non-club sport, however, you have a hard time. "You can already see an asymmetry in the conversation," says Rieble, who is studying chemical technology in Darmstadt. Sometimes you get the feeling that these are just a few young people who are annoying. "On the other hand," says Rieble, "I have the feeling that the authorities would be interested in implementing something for basketball in the Bürgerpark." The prioritization, however, apparently lies elsewhere. As an independent scene, you are more likely to be at the end of the queue in sports.