Jackson Park Jam To Spotlight Local Hoopers, Dedicate Courts To Kobe Bryant Saturday

WOODLAWN — Native basketball expertise will star in a free South Aspect expertise camp and match this weekend, and the courts which can host the occasion are set to be devoted to late NBA legend Kobe Bryant.

Park Jam is 2-10 p.m. Saturday on the Jackson Park basketball courts, northwest of the Hayes Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive intersection.

The competition is organized by Operation Basketball, a youth basketball nonprofit based in 2021. The occasion’s schedule:

• Youth basketball clinics, that includes expertise coaching led by coaches {and professional} gamers: 2-3:30 p.m.
• A courtroom dedication ceremony: 3:30-4 p.m.
• A single-elimination basketball match: 4-8 p.m.
• A 3-point contest: 8-9 p.m.
• A dunk contest: 9-10 p.m.

Winners of the 3-point and dunk contests win $300 every. Past the basketball occasions, the Park Jam options college provide giveaways, free meals and drinks from meals vehicles, music and extra.

The occasion is free to attend, whereas slots for many basketball competitions have been crammed. Dunk contest slots have been nonetheless obtainable as of Thursday afternoon. To take part within the dunk contest or study extra concerning the Park Jam, click on right here.

“We’ll see if I nonetheless bought a little bit sport left,” Ald. Desmon Yancy (fifth) mentioned when requested if he’ll hit the courtroom Saturday.

Yancy is internet hosting the occasion with Prepare dinner County Commissioner Invoice Lowry, who alongside NBA referee and Hales Franciscan Excessive College alumnus James Capers Jr. pushed to renovate the Jackson Park courts final 12 months, Yancy mentioned.

The courts shall be devoted to Bryant at Saturday’s occasion, which falls on 8/24/24. The Los Angeles Lakers star wore quantity 8 from his rookie 12 months in 1996 till 2006, then switched to quantity 24, which he wore till his 2016 retirement.

The Corridor of Famer and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, have been amongst eight individuals who died in a 2020 helicopter crash.

The Jackson Park courts have been renovated and reopened in November with assist from the Mamba & Mambacita Sports activities Basis, named after the late Bryants’ nicknames.

“I at all times thought [Bryant] was a tremendous basketball participant,” Yancy mentioned. “I nonetheless name [Michael] Jordan the G.O.A.T., however Kobe, within the time that he performed, was simply as influential of a participant.”

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