Zhangjiakou

Have you ever played outdoor basketball in pants before? Even when it’s almost 90 degrees and sunny? Well, it’s pretty customary to wear pants everywhere in China, no matter how hot it is. Now, you would expect people to wear shorts while playing basketball, right? Wrong, I went to play basketball in shorts (I already felt out of place walking to the courts) and only 3 out of about 40 people had shorts on. Anyways, enough about pants/shorts, and now onto basketball.

The Court

The basketball court seemed to have belonged to the 251 hospital and is only open during certain times of the day. I should have taken a picture, but they had hours on a sign that I believe was something around 6:00-8:00am in the morning and 5:00-7:30pm in the evening. I went on a Sunday at 5pm. Though I will say I went a second time on Monday at 5:30 and waited almost 30 minutes with other locals but the security guard refused to open the court for some unknown reason, so court times may vary.

The court it self was nice. 2 full basketball courts with nice rims and backboards. Only 1 rim had a net while the other 3 did not. The one thing that stood out was all the dirt on the courts. I think it’s either the pollution or dirt in the air made the court almost unplayable. There always seemed to be a layer of dirt on the court and it was somewhat slippery. But I assume people are used to it because no one else seemed to care. That also meant your hands were almost dirt black at all times.

The players and games

Even though there were two full courts, people in Asia always seem to play half court. There were almost 50 people playing or waiting to play. Of the 4 courts, I will number them 1,2,3,4 in skill level. Hoop 1 contained all the best players. You could tell these guys are there to impress and most skilled. And also as expected, they played on the hoop with the net. They also contained the only 2 people (besides me) to wear shorts. Hoop 2 contained second tier players. This is also where I tried to ask to play, but was denied because no one wanted me on their team. Hoop 4 is where little kids and people just shooting around. I settled on hoop 3 because it was filled with people looking to play on 1 and 2 but couldn’t, so we started our own games.

Courts 1 and 2 played 4 on 4. Our court played 5 on 5. Games were to 9 by ones.  Winning team stayed on. There was no checking of the ball so you had to be alert at all times. there was somewhat of a rule of taking it back past the 3 point line after a turnover/shot but at times, there was no way people went remotely close to the 3 point line so I wasn’t 100% sure what the rule was there. But people did say to take the ball back out.

Conclusion

Skill level was all over the place, so I believe no matter what your skill level, you will be able to fit in here. Whether you are looking for a half court game, or just a hoop to shoot on, you can come here to play. I am not 100% sure on the court times, but I am pretty sure you can play either in the morning of the evening times. if you ever find yourself in Zhangjiakou, China, and looking for a place to play, definitely check out these courts..and please wear shorts.