Nineteen basketball courts replace the ice at the Calgary Olympic Oval from Friday to Sunday to host the Alley-Oop tournament which brings together nearly 2,500 young amateur athletes.
Scott Ady and Brady Byam, the tournament’s co-founders, believe this is the first time so many courts have been brought together under one roof.
The two co-founders, who are also basketball coaches and players, explain that the idea came to them while attending tournaments in the United States. In most tournaments in Canada, teams are spread out among several gyms across the city, says Scott Ady.
During the Alley-Oop tournament, when they are not playing, young people can attend matches at other levels. It’s pleasant and convenient to go from one field to another. There’s a lot of energy in the air, describes Brady Byam.
In total, the tournament has more than 200 teams, separated into 31 divisions, depending on the age of the players and their level of play.
Normally when you go to a tournament there is only one division for each age group. So if you’re not necessarily a strong team, sometimes it’s hard to get into these tournaments because you end up getting beat pretty badly, says Scott Ady.
The particularity of our tournament is that it aims to bring the whole community together. So we have four divisions for each age group.
A very popular first edition
We have been working on this project for years, explains Scott Ady.
One of the challenges overcome was building so many basketball courts at the same time. There is no place where you can find so many baskets in Canada, he says. We had to find baskets and floors for a place like this.
“A staff member at the Olympic oval said to me, ‘I’ve never seen the oval like that in my life. We’ve had volleyball, we’ve had judo, we’ve had gymnastics “There’s never been this many people here,” says Brady Byam.
The co-founders are very happy with how the event has gone so far. Faced with demand from registered teams, they plan to repeat the experience at the Olympic oval during a second tournament in June.
The Alley-Oop tournament in numbers
-
19 basketball courts;
-
212 teams from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan;
-
Nearly 2,500 young participants;
-
500 coaches;
-
4000 to 6000 tickets sold.