SPOKANE, Wash. — A team of about hundred Hoopfest volunteers converged on downtown Spokane on Friday night to convert the city streets into basketball courts for thousands of players this weekend.
Among those volunteers were about 30 taping crews to make more than 400 basketball courts in downtown Spokane starting at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
RJ Del Meece, who manages the taping crews, said that the more experienced crews can lay down the tape needed for a court in under 10 minutes.
"Oh they can knock it out," Del Meece said. "Last night we had about 40 people and knocked out 50 courts in less than an hour and a half."
Each team of volunteers has a captain and divide up responsibilities, such as taping the courts, teams that check to make sure the tape was placed correctly and teams that move the hoops into position.
Del Meece said this night of preparation is his favorite part of the world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
"To me ... I love Friday night. Getting ready for the tournament, the hoops are up, kids are shooting. There's 3-on-3 games going on everywhere, before the tournament even starts," Del Meece said. "We own the streets, and we can run around. My kids, everybody's kids are running around all over the place, don't have to worry about cars, everybody's having a great time."
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