We will hold a Clinic for kids 9 to 13 prior to our games from 11 to 12.15. $5 suggested donation.

April 14th Semis and Finals.

Stay tuned for our Santa Slam 3rd Edition

Coach Matisse "handling" the kids with care

The counter culture of Venice Beach expands during the summer season as tourists and locals gather to observe the spectacle that is the Venice Basketball League.  As the epicenter of Los Angeles’s street ball authority, the Venice courts are the embodiment of a Baller’s dream. Showcasing talent and inspiring youth, Venice’s progression is recognized worldwide. With teams drafted from all walks of life and from every corner of the world, VBL’s global community draws a melting pot of fans and players.

Positivity, activity and well- being is epitomized by the VBL on a weekly basis during the competitive summer games and the free kids camp, known as the KVBL, that is offered at 9am on Sunday mornings. Every kid is given the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities on the beach, enabling their athletic and intellectual aspirations to flourish under the sun. The KVBL’s fundamental intention has been to provide an encouraging and educational atmosphere for the kids to exercise and improve their many talents in front of a supportive audience free of charge.  Kids from all areas in LA are given the resources to manifest their athletic and intellectual capabilities with the only requirement being to bring a positive attitude. Fostered by the collective love for the game and sustained by the influence of community involvement, VBL has organically established itself as a true Hooper’s haven.

9am – 12.30pm:  KVBL

FEATURED GAME OF THE DAY

12.45pm: Team Mazol Tough (0-1) VS Skid Row Ambassadors (0-2)

RIVALRY GAME

2pm: “United Ballers” of the World (1-1) VS  Venice All- Stars (2-0)

SHOWCASE

3.15pm: “White Collars” Rep Interactive (1-1) VS  Venice Beach “Mean Ones” (2-0)

MAIN EVENT

4.30pm: South of the Border “Jalapenos”( 0-0) VS “NCAA Boys” Stay in School (1-1)

There are so many great basketball players that don’t play in the NBA, so many amazing unsigned artists, kids who need to be inspired and mentored…

Don’t ever give up on YOUR DREAMS and what you truly BELIEVE

Spread love is what we do

Toys in The Hood- Imperial Courts.

Photos by Alexandra Nataf

We are planning ahead for KVBL this year! Make sure to come join us this summer and spread love for the holidays!

PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT OUR 3rd ANNUAL SANTA SLAM TOY DRIVE…

For more info:

http://www.sopdigitaledition.com/wholelifetimes/#/13/

For our Final celebrity game we had most of our nominees flake but The legendary”s Eastwood (rapper), Renee Renee (Comedian) Elie Sechback (reporter), The World Greatest Wine-O, Cowboy (Venice Legend) , Sven Barth (Fuel TV), DJ Ansom (lol) and even Crazy Mike… Was a fun game, great day and a fantastic year overall.

Special thanks to Clement the cam and video guy, Jon Nash, The Z Glove, The Grinch, Kristen from Sidewalk Cafe, DB aka Delpha Baxter, J.C. The Mouthpiece, Tanjareen, Matisse Flip, Scratch Academy, RVCA,  Max the Positive, Mike D The Ref,  Chef BeLive, Shadey, crazy Mike,  all the teams, players,  fans and beautiful ladies who come and support us every week.

What a fantastic day we had once again. Special thanks to Gil llewellyn for coming to teach the kids special ball handling skills and to Pat from the RVCA surf team to take his time and come to teach the kids some surfing. We had so much fun, the water was warm and the sun came out just on time.

VBL games started with an all star presentation of Free Agents VS U.N. with lots high flying action and poster dunks… here is a preview, stay tuned for highlights…

First Semi-Finals game was Team Advantage who ran a fundamental basketball clinic against Hollywood Hoops and came up with an easy win. Unfortunately  losers have to go home. Its been a great season for Hollywizzle and his superstar crew. Team Advantage just plays so well together and play basketball to the perfection and are the #1 contenders to win the finals next week

The game that everyone was waiting for was the rematch of the two home teams Venice All Stars and Mean Ones who always play with great passion and hate each other. The game was down to the wire but the world champions found a way to pull it off in the end…

Stay tuned for next week Bikini Ball, All-Star Game, Dunk CONTEST, Celeb Game and VBL FINALS!

As usual what a great day we had @ the KVBL with Rainbeau Mars enlightening them with a very special yoga class. The kids are really starting to understand the benefits of yoga!

VBL: Sunblock took a big upset loss against The Free Agents, Kill The Hype are moving on up after beating on Venice Heat, Venice All Stars had a tough win (78-77) VS Slamball, The Mean Ones took care of business VS The Bartenders and The Frats beat The United Nations

CONNECT WITH US ON FACEBOOK…

Dallas Page made came to teach the kids his way of doing yoga to the kids this morning. At 54 he is still in great shape and a great inspiration for the youth. DDP born Page Joseph Falkinburg, Jr.; April 5, 1956), better known by his ring name “Diamond” Dallas Page (DDP), is an actor and retired American professional wrestler.^[1] In the course of his wrestling career, which spanned two decades, Page has wrestled for World Championship Wrestling (WCW),^[1] World Wrestling Federation (WWF),^[1] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)^[1] and Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW).

The day started 7am with the KVBL. We had a bus load of kids from South Central to join the celebration. Special thanks to Kristen from Sidewalk Cafe for donating the excellent grapes and strawberries. They were well needed since our Chef BeLive was out of town. Leilain and Nicole were here to cover and make excellent smoothies and salads for the kids. As usual we started with fundamental basketball drills, footwork, went into some body structural alignment, beach run, parcour threw the kids playfround, 3on3 and 5on5 set of games and finish off with Yoga and a healthy lunch of course. Big thank you to Katrina who came with a bus load full of kids from  South Central and for making a difference in kids lives.

We had two new teams that were introduced to The VBL this week, Venice Heat (LAFD) and The Bartenders. It was a nice opening game with the Scratch Academy warming up with some fresh beats. These guys always come with the best sound and the freshest DJ’s.

We proceeded with the Free Agents VS Kill the Hype game where ZigZag came late and stole the show with some dazzling tricks and great finishes.

We moved on to our 3rd game with United Nations VS Hollywood Hoops rivalry game. This game made it to over time with Ladies Man being the sharp shooter of the day and led his team to victory.

The most anticipated game of the day was The Mean Ones VS Team Advantage who took the Belt from the champs last week. The Mean Ones played hard and put on the show but the fundamentals size and power of Advange Basketball was no match for the intensity.

The grand finale game was Skid Row Ambassador (SlamBall) VS Sunblock with 2 special addition to their team Terrel Owens aka TO and Rashid Byrd aka 7Nsum Change from Sac Kings. Everyone came to play but way too much power for Sunblock… Stay tuned for video

Special thanks to our great performers Cal State Dominguez cheer squad, Her Story, Big Zoo, Young Hustle, and Green Eyes and his fantastic reggae band.

What a great opener we had.. It was really awesome to see how it all came together. Here are some pics of the event…

Game 1- 1pm OPENER

Team Advantage (1-0) VS Venice All Stars (0-1) 75-69

The Nash brothers and few players still not back from overseas so Gil and his crew took advantage of the situation to take down the Champions.

Game 2 – 2.15pm

The Mean Ones (1-0) VS Sunblock (0-1) Double Overtime game 75-73

These two teams have an history of over time games and Sunblock is usually victorious but they changed the script on this one with Action Figure hitting the 3 for the WIN.

Game 3- 3.30pm

United Nations (1-0) VS Vic Battle Free Agents (0-1) 82-64

What a show that was with Prime hitting 7 dunks over everybody, Vic Battle and his squad had no match for the International superstars.

Game 4 – 4.45pm

Kill The Hype (0-1) VS Hollywood Hoops (1-0) 70- 74

This game was down to the wire once again but Hollywood Hoops showed a bit more heart and intensity in the 4th quarter.

It has been the greatest pleasure and experience for me to coach at the boys and girls club. Today will be the last day and i am a bit emotional i must say.

It has been up and down road where we won  our games with my 10 year old (5-1) and lost most with the 11-12 year olds (1-5). All that matters is to participate and i am really proud of both of teams for giving their best week after week and participating in my favorite sport.

I am truly blessed to be able to share my passion with the young ones. It was also a great honor for me to coach the All Star team against the Santa Monica crew who played a great game.  I hope to be back next season and have all the kids join The Natural Leaders Program that will take place every Sunday in Venice Beach. I would also like to congratulate all the great staff and parents for their great support. Sharing is caring

Here are the CHAMPIONS, they played a great game, i think everyone on the team must have scored… on top of that they were putting on a show with dimes and step back 3 pointers…Was a close game and very exciting to coach.

Last 5 standing for the championship.

ABC 7 NEWS will be there filming a segment on our Kids program!
Airing in June!!!

At about 8:45am – The kids will arrive to start their day. Kids get gear and water bottles (www.Ecousables.com)

9am – Raw Breakfast with Chef BeLive ( www.belivelight.com) & Meghan Doherty Head Chef of Vardo Cafe in Venice CA

9:30am – ‘E-cises’ Warm-up with ‘Egoscue’ method exercise

9:55 – Basketball Training/Drill/Fitness.

11am – ‘Round Robin’ style Kids Tourney

1pm – Yoga w Koya Webb (www.KoyaWebb.com)

1:30pm – Beach walk, Environmental Awareness, (guide: Laura Fox)

2:00pm – VBL Tryouts with celebrity coaches.  Everyone will get their chance to showcase their game against some of the leagues greatest players

4:30pm -  SHOWCASE VBL All Star East VS  All Star West Game

NOW ITS ON….

Kids Venice Basketball League (K.V.B.L.) Fundraiser Dinner and Gala.  You’re Invited!

The Kids Venice Basketball League, along with Culinary Artists and gourmet chefs Rawsheed, Megan Doherty, Tigr, and BeLive invite you to “The Holistic Circle” Wellness Center to benefit the Kids of K.V.B.L. -

~  Inspiring the youth to be natural leaders.
~  Reaching out to the youth so they can make a positive difference.
~  Educating and helping the community.
~  Teaching children about the environment and agriculture, community, yoga, live foods, and basketball and fitness education.

http://www.veniceball.com/category/kvbl

On Saturday April 3rd, you and yours are cordially invited to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience at “The Holistic Circle” 373 Rose Ave. Venice, CA 90291, from 6pm to 11:30pm.  During this one-of-a-kind fundraiser, we will be treated to the highest-vibration live-food experience by several of the best chefs in the world – 100% organic, gourmet vegan cuisine and desert, live music and arts, dj’s and last but most importantly the unveiling of the new KVBL teaser.  Performances broadcast live by “Digital Stream.”  www.digitalstream.tv

Those of you who would like to make fiscal donations please go to http://kvbl.org We thank those of you who can make this happen for our non-profit movement.  For those of you who wish to make a donation of service time or merchandise, or if you’d like to donate and/or sponsor the kids summer program which starts Sunday, June 6th and continues until the end of September, please contact Jon Nash through facebook, email, or by phone -

Jon Nash
323.706.1648
Jon@veniceball.com

Please bring your loved ones and come to experience and enjoy our very first fundraiser -

Opening Cermony:
Monk Metta will be blessing the community and the kids’ program with a Pali chant and Vipasanna meditation. See Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/sanghawellness?ref=ts

Music by:

Cipes & the People -

http://www.cipesandthepeople.com
Christo Pellani -

http://www.soundformation.com
J Brave Luminous and Freewill from the Luminaries -

http://www.luminariesmusic.com
Shylah Ray Sunshine -

http://www.facebook.com/#!/shylahraysunshine?ref=ts
and DJ Ansom -

http://djansom.com

with SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUESTS

Event Location and website: The Holistic Circle
http://www.theholisticcircle.net

General Admission – $10 Advance, $15 Door

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XHH7KWQPMV33L

Dinner & Drinks – $20 Advance, $25 Door
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=95H64PUDKJZYY

VIP Lounge - 3 Course Seated Dinner by official chef for KVBL Chef BeLive, & Full Bar including superfood raw cacao drinks and treats by cacao aficionado Megan Doherty – $50 Advance, $60 Door
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=DSA48ZXH6658Q

* BEST CHOICE * Sponsor a KVBL Kid for a day (see below) AND VIP Lounge Dinner, Full Bar – $100 Advance, $110 at the door.  Sponsored by www.sugarcanejuice.org

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=A93TCZAPYQQ8U KVBL Child sponsorship:  Sponsor a KVBL Kid for a day for only $60!
Contributions to the KVBL provide each youth participant with organic meals by gourmet and raw food chefs, a team uniform, shoes, a sustainable water bottle, a fruit-and-veggie pack and a small moringa tree to take home at the end of the day, and a health and fitness workbook.  Each participant plants the seed of a tree, symbolic of the seed of their dreams and aspirations. They pledge to work to cultivate and watch flourish both their actual and symbolic seed as the sustainable crop cultivation, which benefits both humans and mother earth.  This camp is going to be offered free for all kids.  http://www.veniceball.com/?s=kids+moringa+trees&x=0&y=0&=Go

Brian Lucas aka BeLive was executive chef and co-owner of Organica: the Living Cuisine, which was located in San Francisco. Organica was unique in that it was one of the first gourmet raw living restaurants in the world and was 100% Raw, 100% Vegan and 100% Organic-Wild or Biodynamic. The restaurant was definitely ahead of it’s time. Brian is one of the pioneers of the 90’s gourmet raw living cuisine movement. He has also made food for celebrities, politicians and athletes. Chef BeLive is the official gourmet raw chef for the Venice Basketball and Kids Venice Basketball League during the summer season.

He specializes in making raw living cuisine taste superb and considers himself a “transitional” gourmet raw living chef, helping make peoples 1st experience equal to many of their favorite cooked meals. Brian has encouraged people to discover a healthier diet through flavorful raw living cuisine. Many individuals need good tasting food to transition to the raw lifestyle in an easier manner. He has a unique style that is definitely his own, and everyone should have the pleasure of experiencing it. You can currently find his Mom’s Stuffed Bells recipe featured in Carol Alt’s new raw food book The Raw 50.

To Find ou more about this great man CLICK FOR CHEF BELIVE

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Big thanks to everyone who donated especially to Brett Johnson and his wife for being so generous

KVBL part 1 on TV all over the world from VENICE BALL on Vimeo.

Supreme Master TV came to Venice this summer to report on what we did in Venice Beach morning time… what most people do not know about us is that we truly care about the youth and want to make a positive change in their life…

KVBL part 2 the Good people that make it happen from VENICE BALL on Vimeo.

BIG THANK YOU TO SUPREMASTERTV for spreading the message.

We started our camp with our usual warm up and light healthy breakfast.  Then, we went to our favorite part of the camp, YOGA!! From there we went thru few basic drills and fundamentals that we applyed into our KVBL tournament. After it got too hot, we went and jumped in the ocean which felt really refreshing. Cypes sang us a few songs and tought us a bit more about how to improve our environment. Once we came back to the courts,  we had some lunch while Omar the magician was entertaining the kids and adults with fantastic magic tricks…

Also sign up on our blog and please comment on our posts, we need your feedback.

Although it is our last game this sunday, we have plenty more events in store for fall, winter and spring.

Los Angeles never stops Ballin.. this is VENICEBALL…

8-12pm: Natural leaders camp

12.30-1.30pm: Hoop-Shots 1on1 King of the court Battle

1.30-2.45: Bryan McKnight All-Star team VS Slamball

3pm SEMI FINALS #1

SUNBLOCK(3rd) VS THE MEAN ONES(2nd)

4.30pm SEMI FINALS #2

VENICE ALL STARS(1st) VS HOLLYWOOD HOOPS(4th)

5.45 DUNK CONTEST

+ many halftime shows, performances and special guest celebrity appearances.

BIG THANK YOU TO THE GENEROUS DONATIONS OF THE FARMERS MARKET OF SANTA MONICA, CHEF BELIVE, RON AKA THE GRINCH, FREEWILL, HOLLYWOOD, MATISSE AND HONEST TEA …

VeniceBall is practically a 12 hour show… We definitely make the best of our days … more pics coming soon…

]]> http://www.veniceball.com/2009/08/05/kvbl-kids-are-getting-really-competitive/feed/ 0 http://www.veniceball.com/2009/07/14/vbl-everyday-all-day/ http://www.veniceball.com/2009/07/14/vbl-everyday-all-day/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:57:33 +0000 nsum http://www.venicebasketballleague.com/?p=2167 ]]> http://www.veniceball.com/2009/07/14/vbl-everyday-all-day/feed/ 0 http://www.veniceball.com/2009/07/14/veniceball-presents-3on3-tournament-with-aeg-and-nike/ http://www.veniceball.com/2009/07/14/veniceball-presents-3on3-tournament-with-aeg-and-nike/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:41:11 +0000 nsum http://www.venicebasketballleague.com/?p=2151

Chef Belive and the crew coming to Help out early for the kids

Nothing like a nutritious breakfast and lunch  @ the beach, on the courts…

We must educate the youth even thru the summer, Its more than school… KVBL.

Even the Grinch himself made it early in the morning to teach them a few things.

Hollywood will teach them how to play together and the importance of team work…

Kids will eat organic breakfast courtside with private chef…

Learn  information about nutrition and simple ways to be healthy…

Learn basketball techniques by some of the Best…

Do some yoga to keep them flexible and stay away from injuries

Have a nice walk on the beach and learn how to preserve our environment…

Come home with a book that summarizes everything they learn and more..

Get to watch the best in the world and be inspired to get to the next level…

All kids must have a signed release from their parents before participating in our summer program.

They might have a chance in showing their game on television…

letter-of-understanding

PARTICIPANT’S NAME:

PROGRAM: VENICEBALL, VBL (Venice Basketball League)

I, hereby confirm that I have agreed voluntarily to appear without compensation in the above-identified video program produced by Veniceball, I agree that the program(s) may be broadcast and distributed without limitation through any means and I shall not receive any compensation for my participation during the entire league broadcast( June 28^th till August 30^th) 
 I confirm that any and all material furnished by me for this program is either my own or otherwise authorized for such use without obligation to me or any third party. I also agree to the use of my name, likeness, portrait or pictures, voice and biographical material about me for educational, program or series publicity and organizational promotional purposes.
 I further agree that my participation in the program confers upon me no rights to use, ownership or copyright. I release Veniceball, its employees, agents, and assigns from all liability which may arise from any and/or all claims by me or any third party in connection with my participation in the program(s). It is understood that Veniceball is under no obligation to broadcast the above-identified program(s) or series. I also understand that basketball is a dangerous sport and my participation may result in injuries. Veniceball is not responsible for any injuries that may occur.

Agreed to and signed this day of , 2009

by:__________________________________

Participant’s Signature Street Address City, State, Zip

I, am the parent or legal guardian of the above-named minor and I endorse the above statement in his/her behalf on this day of , 2009.

/ /

Parent or Guardian Street Address City, State, Zip

ITS MORE THAN BASKETBALL.

We are reaching out to the whole city and try to make a positive difference this summer.