Off-court team ready for weekend

The streets of downtown Spokane are being transformed into a giant playground.

Organizers of Hoopfest are hard at work preparing for the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the country, which begins Saturday.

The 18th annual event relies heavily on the help of volunteers and already has almost 3,000 unpaid helpers enlisted.

Come Friday night, streets will be blocked off, lines for 389 basketball courts will be taped to the pavement and tents will be raised for weather that’s expected to be mostly sunny with temperatures in the upper 70s.

This year, 6,125 teams are signed up to compete, with a waiting list of more hoping for a chance to play if there are cancellations.

“If you want to see the real action, come out Friday night to see it all set up,” said Randy Smith, Hoopfest Association’s site and facilities manager.

As Smith adjusted tarps Monday afternoon on the incomplete Nike Center Court in Riverfront Park, where some of the most talented players from across the country battle for supremacy, he said his favorite part of the event is seeing the whole thing come together. He’ll take one last look at the layout at 5 a.m. Saturday, before the games begin.

Smith, who is in charge of the entire construction and tear-down of the event, said Hoopfest begins for him in February with contacting vendors, preparing street maps and keeping track of equipment needs.

“It’s stunning how they put it all together,” said Rick Steltenpohl, Hoopfest Association’s executive director.

Steltenpohl said he remembered when it would take all night to tape 40 courts; now with the help of volunteers it takes a few hours for nearly 10 times that many.

After leaving his position a little over a year ago as director of the Hoopfest Association to pursue a career in sports marketing, Steltenpohl was steered back to Spokane by his family and resumed his job this May. “It helped to get away,” Steltenpohl said.

Some Hoopfest volunteers are former players who like helping out.”I’d rather compete, but I think it’s well-organized for volunteers,” said Chris Van Guilder, a three-time volunteer who registered as a court monitor months ago.

He competed in Hoopfest with his brothers for years until he suffered a knee injury. Now, he said, he simply enjoys being a part of it.

Full-time court monitors receive free Nike gear, including shoes, shorts, T-shirts and hats, which Van Guilder said is probably more than they need. All volunteers receive T-shirts.

During and after the festival, volunteers will be hard at work cleaning up the mess from the weekend.

The cleaning crew is made up of youth groups including the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Navy Cadets and Young Marines, whose organizations get donations after the event is over.

“They can get places where adults can’t,” said Brendan Hill, the operating committee clean-up organizer.

Hill said they usually have everything cleaned up by Sunday night, including up to 52 tons of garbage.

“It’s our intention that come Monday morning, people won’t know we were here,” Smith said.