TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The basketball court at Oury Park is normally used by the Tucson Gila Monsters team every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But under the Saturday night lights, they welcomed a new crowd to their home court for the Oury Park Takeover.
The Tucson Gila Monsters head coach Ramon Gutierrez said this is his first park takeover, but he hopes it won't be the last. He says basketball is more than just a sport for his team.
“These kids are stuck on their phone; they're stuck on their tablets," he said. "We want them to come out here and express themselves through basketball—in a positive way.”
The Park Takeover allows for the whole community to get involved.
Organizers of the Takeover Terrence Balerani-Knoblich and Michael Jones say a takeover is when they "bring guests from all over the place, skilled basketball players, come and takeover a court."
They then bring Tucson players to take them on. The first park takeover in Tucson was at Jesse Owens Park. The Oury Park Takeover was special since four members of the Slamball League, which is like basketball with trampolines— came to play and social media influencer Gio Wise.
Balerani-Knoblich said the goal is to "just fun basketball for the community."
"[We] bring people from the community in, bring people from outside the community in and bring everybody together for a good time," he said.
There was a food truck, snow cones, and music to add to the atmosphere.
Jones wants to give this generation of players a similar experience that they had growing up.
“We grew up a different way of being out in the community, going out to the parks, sitting on green boxes until the sun went down, playing basketball with random people and then become friends and then become family,” he said.
Some of the kids there, who also play on the Gila Monsters, said that it's working.
“It’s like a family," said Chase Sullivan. "You can say jokes; they’ll say jokes and insults back.”
His friend Xavier Arvayo said, "it’s a nice team. We work as a team together. If one of us goofs off, then we all have to run.”
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
