April 2006
Slam Dunkin'
Where to play basketball in Munich
It’s only a short fall-away jump shot from the bus stop to the Elixia Gymnasium on Leopoldstrasse, where, with a few mates and a little luck, you can rent a hall to play an hour or two of basketball. With the floor scuffed by frequent indoor soccer games, it is a serviceable but not great venue. But then, at only € 17 an hour, it is the closest experience to pick-up basketball you’ll find in Munich.
Although the game is steadily growing in popularity in Germany, it is almost impossible to find a game of streetball or recreational basketball anywhere in the city. An American friend noted on first arriving that he even struggled to find an outdoor court, and that those he did find all featured reinforced steel rings. “That means you have to make a perfect shot for it to go in, otherwise CLUNG! And then you have a long retrieve,” he recalled of the time he wasted before discovering Elixia.
The game invented by Canadian James Naismith in the 1890s was first played in Bavaria in the 1930s, but was then not formally organized. While the basketball craze had already taken hold in countries such as France, Latvia and Russia, and was included as a sport in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, it was only after World War II that the game took off in Germany. One of the influences was undoubtedly the American occupying forces who played the game as a recreational pastime. For example, when master Sergeant John C. Woods, an executioner with the US army, arrived in Nuremberg to set up the scaffold for those sentenced to death at the first Nuremberg trial, he had to wait until the hall was free. The weekly basketball game of the American guards took precedence.
By 1947, when a team from Munich became German champions, basketball had become a nationally organized sport. Today, there are more than 30,000 active basketball players in 1,660 teams throughout Bavaria, and former Würzburg player Dirk Nowitzki is blazing a trail in the American NBA, where he has played with the Dallas Mavericks since 1998.
Competitions range from suburban district competitions to first and second regional divisions. Teams from Bamberg and Nuremberg also compete in the national competition, while clubs such as Würzburg have proven themselves more than capable at the European Championships.
“Many of the local clubs do offer the opportunity for people to go down and join in training or take part in casual games, but it is not official or organized. You simply have to ask, but it is true that there is no real local recreational competitions,” explains Hans Hönigsmann, the CEO of the Bayerischen Basketball Verband (
www.bbv-online.de).
According to Hönigsmann, basketball has been steadily growing in popularity in Bavaria since the early 1990s, with a major spurt occurring between 1995 and 1998. Part of this he attributes to the increasing influence of basketball as a sport in schools. However, Hönigsmann said there has been no “Nowitzki” effect in the same way that the early success of Boris Becker inspired thousands of Germans to take up tennis.
“Although Germany has a good international team (currently ranked 13th in the world) and Nowitzki is a recognized international athlete, little basketball is shown on television here,” he sighs. “The NBA is shown at odd hours, usually late at night, but few games from the national competition receive coverage at all. This is to the detriment of the development of the game.”
One of the strengths of the Bavarian scene is the large number of youths playing the game. Of the 1,660 teams located in Bavaria, 1,024 are children’s or youth teams. Girls’ teams make up a quarter of these. “That,” notes Hönigsmann, “is a healthy and growing number.”
For youths in Munich, one option is the unfortunately named BuM (Basketball um Mitternacht) initiative. Based on an American model designed to keep kids off the street and to give them a healthy outlet for their energy, BuM offers children the chance to take part in basketball games and other sports, including indoor soccer and break dancing, in the late evening. Based on an American model, BuM is staged at 11 locations throughout Munich, including Mil-bertshofen, Bogenhausen, Pasing and Neuperlach.
Elixia Leopark
Leopoldstrasse 250
Tel. 350 16 00
BuM,
www.basketball-um-mitternacht.de
