Amsterdam

Finding and getting to the court (8 – very easy to get to by metro. In fact the name of the gymnasium is the name of the metro stop)

I arrived in Amsterdam in the middle of the winter where it was below freezing. Outdoor basketball was not happening so I had to get creative on finding an indoor court. I googled online for pickup basketball in Amsterdam and was surprised to find a meetup group that just happened to be playing indoor basketball on the day that I was free. I had never done a meetup before so I was skeptical at first. I even messaged the group to see if they were actually going to play and if they still needed players. To my excitement, someone actually commented back within the hour and told me to join.

For safety reasons, I messaged a couple friends back home about my whereabouts in case anything happened to me.

The gym was Bijlmer Sportcentrum. It was actually very easy to get to from Amsterdam’s central station. Take Metro 54 from Amsterdam Central and get off at the Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA station. A short 5-10 min walk will get you to the gym. Anybody who can read google maps will be able to find it.

The Basketball Court (7 – great hoops but smaller than regulation court size and very slippery)

The courts were impossible to miss when walking into the venue. When entering the venue, you enter on the 2nd floor and there is a huge glass window that overlooks the whole gymnasium. The courts have a blue floor that are also used as an indoor soccer court. There are 3 full basketball courts. 2 of the courts with hoops are permanently there, while the 3rd (middle court) has to have its basketball hoops rolled out.

The floor was a bit slippery because it was not typical hardwood. The hoops and backboard were as good as any high school gym. All nets were in good condition so no complaints there. There were a lot of lines drawn on the floor because of the multi purpose use of the courts sharing with volleyball, handball, and soccer. The courts were smaller than regulation, probably middle school sized.

Because our meetup was planned, the organizer actually brought out a table with an electronic scoreboard that we would be using for our games

The Players (6 – fun to play with but talent level was only average)

There were probably 30+ people ready to play basketball that day. After about an hour of just shooting around and warming up, I learned that 1 court was being used as practice for a league team. So that took away half the group (which unfortunately took away the more talented players). 

Average age was probably 27 years old. With the oldest being about 50 and the youngest probably being someone in college or just recently graduated. The majority of the players were most likely under 30. Average height was ~5’10. Tallest was probably 6’4 and shortest was probably 5’5.

The skill level was somewhere between fair to average. Most people understood the game of basketball but most did not know the fundamentals. There were a lot of turnovers, one on one dribbling and a near fight because people were fouling too hard. You could tell most people could not shoot so well just by looking at their jump shot so jump shooting was at a premium

4 players were of note

The organizer: He definitely played club basketball some time ago and knew the game very well. He was in his 40’s now so he might not no longer be as good as he once was, but he was still a step above the others. ~6ft who could shoot and always in the right spot and boxed out.

The post player: He knew how to use his height. It was good to see a post player stay in the post and utilize his length to shoot over others. He made a lot of post jump shots over everyone else.

The USA guy: This guy like me was looking for a pickup game during his short stay in Amsterdam. He found this group after hearing about it from friends and decided to check it out. He was a power forward type who could finish very well near the rim. Used his size and strength to out-muscle and outscore his opponents.

The 3 point shooter: This was the only guy who hit a 3 pointer that night. Not only one, but many. He also understood the game of basketball so he was notable.

The Game (10 – was expecting pickup but played an actual game with scoreboard and clock)

This was the coolest part of the day. I was expecting a normal pickup basketball game but the way the organizer set this up was to play it as a real game with a running clock and scoreboard. No refs of course so you had to call your own fouls but games were 4 quarters at 10 minutes each. We split into two teams, with 7 people per team. When making teams, I was last pick. The team I joined fortunately had the ‘post player’, the ‘USA guy’, and the ‘3 point shooter’.

Before we began playing, the organizer asked who wanted to start and I immediately raised my hand, guaranteeing my starting spot but more importantly playing time!

Ever had that dream scenario where everything you wanted to do on a basketball court actually happened? Well I had my dream start scoring the first couple of baskets. In fact, the first basket of the day was a 2 on 1 fast break where I did a Rondo fake with my right hand (completely fooling the defender) and then easily finishing the layup with my left hand. Received some ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’.

As for the rest of the game, no one really boxed out, and there weren’t any strong ball handlers so I had it easy grabbing a lot of rebounds and picking up a lot of steals. Because we probably had 4 out of the 5 best players on the same team, we easily took a 20-2 lead and never looked back.

I felt kinda bad for the other team because it was obvious they were over matched. They even argued with each other and one guy just straight up left because he hated his team. It was the perfect level of talent for myself as everyone was just good enough to play a good game of basketball, but just bad enough where I felt like an MVP.

Substitutions flowed seamlessly as I don’t remember anyone actually complaining about playing time.

After the first game, we played a 2nd game and I was actually named a captain to pick the teams. Unfortunately I had to leave because it was getting late so I did not get to finish the game. But teams were much more even as I left with a 14-13 lead after the first quarter.

Conclusion

Was skeptical at first, but turned out to be a surprising success. Could not have asked for a better opportunity to play pickup basketball in Amsterdam and I am very glad I googled online and found this group. They play every Tuesday and Thursday at around 7pm at this gym.