VENICE BEACH BASKETBALL STARS TO PLAY AT SKID ROW’S GLADYS PARK
Downtown Los Angeles- This Sunday, July 24th, the popular Venice Beach basketball league, known as the “VBL”, will bring it’s entire crowd-pleasing, high-energy entertainment style of basketball to Skid Row’s Gladys Park- located at 6th and Gladys in Downtown Los Angeles.
The all day, family-friendly event starts at 10am with the kids session called the “KVBL”, followed by several non-stop, action-packed games which will conclude at 5pm. The event is being hosted by the Skid Row Ambassadors, a basketball team from Skid Row that plays in the VBL every weekend and the award-winning Skid Row 3on3 Streetball League.
This is an historic event in Skid Row, the first time the community residents will host an entire basketball league from outside the area. “This event will show the world what the Skid Row residents are truly capable of”, says Manuel Compito, Commissioner of the host Skid Row 3on3 Streetball League.
Also, Commissioner Brad Wright of the VBL (who played for UCLA and the NBA) added, “As the new Commissioner of the VBL and a person that has helped others deal with homelessness in the past, we (VBL) felt necessary to expand our overall focus and use our platform to help the less fortunate in any way we can”.
The VBL’s games are always filled with endless dunk contest-winning type dunks and playground dribble-drives that either bring crowds to their feet, draw stunned looks from fans complete with mouth-dropping gasps, endless “ooh’s and aah’s” and then there’s the VBL’s signature “shut the game down” that happens if a player gets dunked on so bad that the game should not even continue- and that can happen at ANY time! The player that got dunked on then has to go to the penalty box for five minutes and usually, the crowd is still buzzing from the thunderous dunk. There is also the crowd-pleasing announcers spewing their street-smart, witty basketball-related jargon that raise the entertainment value that much more. Featured players include “The Beast”, “The Irish Giant”, “The Mute” (he let’s his game talk for him), “Jesus” and “The Thunderdunker”.
Worried about there not being any NBA this season? No problem because the VBL players consist of some ex-NBA, future NBA, upcoming college stars and many, many playground legends! For example, NFL football star Terrell Owens played in the VBL last season.
The event will also have moon jumpers for the kids, live artistic painting while the games are being played, music provided by DJ Scratch Academy, performances during halftime and between games by r&b/hip-hip acts and the Skid Row Ambassadors will provide food for both the players and fans in attendance.
Special invited guests include 9th District Councilmember Jan Perry and 14th District Councilmember Jose Huizar, both of whom’s districts include Skid Row and both of whom love family-friendly basketball.
The Skid Row Photography Club, a grass-roots community group, will also be there taking endless pictures of what is sure to bring joy to the residents of Skid Row for quite some time.
This is a free event and there will be ample parking around the park. We do encourage the use of public transportation, bikes and/or other means of travel that are less harmful to the environment.
