San Francisco II

I returned to San Francisco for about a week and the first thing I had on my to-do list was to try out Indoorhoops.com in SF. I’ve written about my experiences in NYC and Chicago and I’ve only had good things to say about how easy it was to sign up and play some good competitive basketball, especially if you are new and looking for a good run. I was expecting the same seamless experience in SF, but unfortunately, this one did not turn out so well.

After experiencing IndoorHoops.com in their 3 major cities, I believe I get the privilege to convey a bit more criticism this time. Don’t take me wrong, I still think it’s a great site and everyone in NYC, Chicago and SF should still use IndoorHoops to play pickup. I’m just being picky because NYC set the bar so high.

The reason why the SF experience did not live up to expectations was because we only had 7 people show up to play. Online said there were 11 people who signed up but I guess 4 people paid and decided not to come? The other interesting piece was that they had a person working for IndoorHoops who checked people in and she said only 9 people had signed up for the day. Which makes me wonder why the discrepancy online but more importantly, why run the session if there are less than 10 people?

Signing up

Extremely easy. I don’t want to get into the details because it’s self-explanatory but you go to IndoorHoops and you pick the city>day>gym you want to play at and then pay. My cheap ass again used a 25% discount coupon that I received from Chicago to pay for my play in SF.

I do like how they 1. sent a confirmation this time (compared to NYC) and 2. they even sent a reminder email the morning of the run to remind you to come.

I played on a Monday from 7:30-9:30

Marina Middle School: MARINA DISTRICT

3500 Fillmore St

San Francisco, CA

Cross street: Chestnut & Fillmore

Marina District

Enter through the parking lot located off Bay Street. Walk towards the open door of the building in the FAR LEFT corner. Once inside, make a left up the stairs to the gym.

Now finding the location was easy, but following those last steps to find the “FAR LEFT” corner to enter was a bit of scavenger hunt

See the door in this picture, its allllllll the way here to enter

The Gym

When entering the gym, the IndoorHoops person greets you and checks you in.

The gym is very old and confined in a tight space. There are only a couple feet between the wall and out of bounds. As for the court and hoops, everything is to standard regulation so nothing to complain here.

The Players and Game

Only 7 people showed up so played 3 on 3. Now, I haven’t played half-court basketball in years, and 3 on 3 is actually not that interesting to me plus also a disadvantage for me because the game becomes slower and size matters more here.

There was one player who was about 6’4 and the rest of us were under 5’10. Luckily for us, the 6’4 guy was all size and nothing else. The 3 on 3 games were dominated by guard play and 3 point shooting.

Yet again, because I don’t really look like a basketball player, I was teamed up with 2 guys who were probably the best 2 people out there (not including me, of course, har har..), and we ended up dominating the entire night. We played about 10 games and went 10-0. At no time did we ever switch up teams.

But the most interesting aspect of this for me at least was that since 3 on 3 is now an Olympic sport, and watching some games on TV and in Singapore, made me fully realize how important the 3 point shot was, especially when playing by 1’s and 2’s. Even though the 3 point shot is not my strength, I spent the entire night jacking up as many 3 point shots as possible. I started out probably 0-10 on 3’s, but that didn’t deter me as it spreads out the floor and long rebounds give a small edge back to the offensive team shooting them. Throughout the night, I probably shot about 50 3-point shots (about 5 attempts a game) which is unprecedented for me at least. In my mind, I’d like to think I hit 33% but in reality, probably less…way less. Basketball analytics at it’s finest.

Conclusion

While I was a bit disappointed we didn’t get to run full court, I took full advantage of my time here just jacking up 3 pointers in the 3 on 3 games. I did reach out to IndoorHoops.com to see how they deal with runs less than 10 people and if they provide either a discount or refund of that day but did not receive a response. Not the best customer experience but like I said before, I’m just being picky now because of the expectations set. If you ever visit SF, NYC or Chicago and are dying to play some pickup basketball, you should always check out IndoorHoops!