The 28th February marked 150 days to go until the start of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. 24 hours later, Nike were making their own statement on a date that only arrives once every four years.
Surrounded by famous landmarks, most notably Big Ben and the London Eye, basketball fans and players from all-round London gathered upon the roof of County Hall along the capital’s South Bank on 29th February as Nike pushed their #makeitcount campaign.
Teams from British basketball websites MVP 24/7 and Hoopsfix competed, along with Midnight Madness, a basketball summer tournament programme created by Nhimo Shire. It was the latter that won the event overall, defeating MVP 24/7 in the final game.
With the Olympics now under 150 days away, this unique event couldn’t of come at a better time, with basketball set to become the most eagerly anticipated event behind the 100m final. It’s events like this that really put basketball in Great Britain in a positive light, even though it had absolutely nothing to do with July’s Games.
In a country where the British Basketball League is still struggling with both finances and media coverage, this one event gained a full page spread in a national newspaper and with the sheer unique setting of this #makeitcount tournament, the media coverage of this was well received.
“It was an awesome way to start the year,” Hoopsfix creator Sam Neter said. His team were knocked out in the semi-finals by Midnight Madness.
“It was a crazy location with Bi Ben overlooking us and the basketball was really competitive. I’d love for it to become an annual thing.”
(Picture: Hoopsfix)
