KEY POINTS:
Streetball is about flair, winning at any cost and mind games.
"I like getting inside people's heads," says Jahlal Ibrahim, one of New Zealand's top players of the sport - a street version of basketball.
Unlike traditional basketball, streetball is self-governed, meaning the players call the fouls. But,
says Ibrahim, beware of calling a "soft" foul.
"If someone makes a call you have to respect it, but, you know, you get some soft players who start calling weak fouls, and we'll accept it and give them the ball back, but we'll let them know that it's soft. It's psychological," he smiles.
He's played streetball against national league basketball players and says that, psychologically, they weren't up to it because they were used to referees calling the shots.
"We don't play dirty, we just play as hard as we possibly can," he emphasises, "and we're not going to give you anything easy. We come from the defence-first mentality. If you're going to beat us then you're going to have to earn it."
Streetball is mostly played with two teams of three on a half court with one basket, but Ibrahim prefers the five-a-side whole court version. "That's the real streetball and the most fun to play," he says.
The Boost Mobile Street Tour, a street ball tournament that so far has attracted more than 80 teams, is on at Auckland's Aotea Square on Saturday and Hamilton's Civic Plaza on December 9. The tour is dubbed a celebration of street culture and includes breakdancing and hip-hop.
You can roll up from 10am on the day - either as a team or an individual - and enter. And don't be intimidated by the mind games because there's far more to the sport than the psychology.
Ibrahim, who won the Boost title last year as well as this year's X-Air Streetball Nationals, says the game is about skills, putting on a show - and winning, of course.
"There's more room for individual creativity [than in basketball] and the showmanship comes through because a lot of it is about looking good and putting on a show," explains the 27-year-old.
"Having said that, many people now look at streetball as a gimmick because they're just out there to look good. But there are two types of streetball.
"There are those who want to look good, do tricks and have fun, and then there's the hardest ballers who really don't care how they look, they just want to win."
Ibrahim says his team, which used to be known as South Slum but are now called the G'd Up Outlaws, play a combination of both.
"But when it comes down to it we will do whatever we have to do to get the win."
The G'd Up Outlaws also includes Nat Connell, who Ibrahim rates as the best streetballer in New Zealand.
Ibrahim, who has long played basketball, was introduced to streetball in 2002 when he spent a year playing on the street courts of Los Angeles.
"Most of the time I was the only white boy on the court," he laughs. "But streetball is the great leveller. No matter what you look like or who you are, if you can show you can play you're going to get respect."
Streetball dates back to America in the 50s and became popular because you could play it anywhere, anytime and it was free. It spread worldwide and recently the AND1 streetball tour across America popularised the game by attracting media coverage.
Here, it is growing thanks to tournaments like the Boost Mobile and X-Air streetball contests, and AND1 being televised on ESPN.
Ibrahim says local tournaments like the one this weekend are the best thing that's happened to local basketball in years because they give players an opportunity to showcase their skills outside the game's traditional channels.
He says the politics and administration of basketball are often a barrier and good players fall between the cracks. "But streetball puts everyone on an equal playing field."
He sees the game growing bigger and rivalling basketball. "Streetball is the next level of the game evolving, and if you look at the NBA now, while it's definitely not streetball, there's some elements of streetball getting mixed up with the fundamentals of the game."
Lowdown
Who: Jahlal Ibrahim
What: Streetball, basketball for the street
When: Boost Mobile Street Tour, Aotea Centre, Auckland, Saturday 10am; Civic Plaza, Hamilton, Saturday, Dec 9, 10am
