Basketball in Barcelona

One of my favorite pastimes in the United States has always been to play basketball. However, when I came to Barcelona I did not think it would be very easy to find a court to play on since I would be living in a major city and because soccer is the major sport in this nation. Nevertheless, I got the itch to go play and began looking for places to play. After asking some of my friends and even taxi drivers where I could find a court, I got word that there were actually several different places I could go play pick up games across the city. Finally, after much time I found that the best place for me to play was right by the Monumental metro stop. On Friday, March 26, 2010, I got off at the metro stop and sure enough a block away was a full basketball court and there were several individuals playing. I finally got the urge to play right as spring break started because all of my roommates traveled to France that Thursday. I had to stay for the weekend because my parents were visiting me on that Sunday, so I had plenty of time to walk around the city. I finally laced up my shoes and put the basketball I had in my apartment to good use. I was pretty nervous going to play after not playing for so long, but I figured it would be a great way to get some exercise since I do not belong to a gym here. It was definitely different playing pick-up basketball here than it was playing in the United States. What made the experience so different was that I was playing with two individuals from the Domincan Republic, one from Munich, and two from China. It was very cool to see how a sport can bring people from such different backgrounds together. Even though none of spoke each other’s languages except in bits in pieces, we were able to communicate because we all shared the same passion for the game. It was interesting to see that people from other countries took the sport very seriously as well, and that it was becoming so popular across the world. Even though there are plenty of international players who are great in the NBA, I never really got to experience playing against such a diverse group of people growing up. While this was still the same old game I was playing, it was a much different game this time.