Looking for Pickup Hoops in Guatemala
A basketball travel blog for Guatemala
There is no better way to be a tourist1 in another city than to slide into a pickup run. So I wanted to try out a little bit of travel blogging while I’m in Latin America and include some tips and thoughts I have for others who might be interested in trying out the local flavor of hoops.
I’m starting with Guatemala where I spent five weeks in Guatemala City and Xela (Quetzaltenango). So I’ll break down a few of the pickup runs and the rec league I got invited to join for a bit in Xela. While basketball is by no means the favorite sport of the country, I thought it was a great place to hoop.
Some quick first thoughts. Unlike the United States and Mexico City, 3on3/4on4 half court is much more popular here, so it took me a bit to find a full court 5on5 run. While 3on3 is obviously man defense, everyone plays zone for 5on5s which honestly I think leads to a more team oriented game that is fun when you’re playing with people you aren’t as familiar with. Guatemala is a mountainous (volcano-us?) country so wherever you’re playing it’s going to be at altitude. And I mean real altitude, so Denver Nuggets fans2 you can toss out your lame ass 5280 jerseys, Xela is at 2,400m (or 7,900ft!!!). Plan accordingly, drink water or Electorlit’s (no affiliate links, I’m just a fan). While it’s not really necessary to speak all that much to play, basically everybody only speaks Spanish and/or a Mayan language, so brush up on some Basketball Spanish. And lastly, people here are incredibly friendly and welcoming. And while the country is generally undersized compared to the US and Mexico, there are still skilled players, and those less skilled play hard and physical to stay on the court.
So here’s my little guide to pickup hoops in Guatemala (as a foreigner).
Xela - Complejo Deportivo, Colonia Molina, Cancha Minerva, Rec League in Cantel
I got my best pickup runs Xela (Quetzaltenango, if you’re looking at a map)3 perhaps because I was in the city for the longest amount of time for a month. Finding a good pickup run was hard at first, but I was determined and ultimately highly rewarded in the end.
First I stopped by Colonia Molina on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a beautiful little neighborhood surrounding a park, about halfway up the city’s famous lookout point El Baul so it comes with a nice view over the city. There are two full basketball courts, both of which, naturally, were being used for futsal. However, beneath the soccer field was this funky little four sided hoop, where a mix of teens, parents, and uncles were playing 3on3 and 4on4 on one of the hoops. They had really specific rules which added a little fun. First, no out of bounds. Second, taking the ball back meant going beyond a concrete crack that had emerged, but of course airballs and steals meant not needing to clear it. While it’s fun throwing no look passes to the kid in the corner to shoot, it wasn’t really the competition I was looking for.
Next, I took a ride share on the back of this guy's motorcycle and ended up at Cancha Minerva. It’s another court with a beautiful view (this time of Volcan Santa Maria), similarly connected to a soccer field,4 and more mostly teens playing. At one point we were running a basketball game on the court while another group of kids played a soccer game on the exact same court. Total chaos.
A few blocks away Complejo Deportivo de Quetzaltenango ended up being the best bet and it’s completely free. While it doesn’t have the view, everyday around 4pm there were full with solid outdoor adult runs.5 Normally there are two 4on4 half court runs happening on the half courts that have nets (which unfortunately are separate courts), which is divided mostly by skill level. In the competitive game people played more aggressive man defense, which could get pretty intense if there’s a one or two game wait to get on. Even the guys with the janky looking shots generally make them. Keep in mind that it is Guatemala, and while the basketball crowd does skew a little taller than the general population, if you are over 6 foot tall you will probably be made to play post against the other tallest, or strongest guy.
I’d walk or take a ride share moto over to the Complejo Deportivo two or three times a week, effortlessly ducking and weaving through traffic during the rush hour commute. Our crew was pretty consistent, everyone was seemingly old friends. I play in rec specs, only to enhance my already amazing vision. One day I noticed the back-to-the-basket big who also sported specs was wearing a Portland Trail Blazers t-shirt.6 This is how I met my man Fernando, and while he told me that he actually didn’t know who that team was, he did say that his rec league tournament team needed another guy. That is how I became an on-loan player for the Indiana Pacers of Xela.
For my first game Fernando scooped me in a pickup along with three other teammates as we made the 30 minute trek out to Cantel, a scenic suburb with some locally famous hot springs. On the ride over my teammates put on 2000s synth-pop masterpiece “Rosa Pastel” by Belanova as pump up music, shouting along to every word. Cancha Los Alisos was an interesting little covered outdoor arena. There was a concession stand, four rows of concrete bleachers, and a scorekeeper's nest where they announced players' names after they scored. The teams all had some of the hardest matching kits for jerseys I’d seen. The court itself looked solid with well maintained hoops, though one ref told me, “be careful on the yellow painted areas, that paint is more slippery.” Of course the point guard on the other team turned an ankle and fell over on a transition layup.7
The competition was solid: good team oriented adult rec league squad, no true buckets but lots of solid passing, spot up shooting. I should also say this, between Guatemala and Mexico the baseline 5on5 defense is ALWAYS zone. In fact, a sort of funky, 1-2-2 zone, where when run effectively, the head of the zone is applying heavy ball pressure on the point guard and then aggressively attacking passing lanes on the perimeter. It sort of is like a soft trap and basically everyone knows how to run it even in pickup games. For gringos this will definitely feel strange, I cannot stress this enough that nobody plays man defense unless it’s 3on3. Honestly, it’s not a terrible strategy when you’re playing outside with double rims, but it might get you your ass kicked if you did it in the States.
On defense I was asked to play post for my rebounding, but when our lead guard had to leave at halftime of the second game they moved me up to the top because of my length. I didn’t have the full hang of where I needed to be as much as I instinctively did in the post, but we did still manage to pull out the win. On offense Fernando directed me to either play as the playmaker out of the high post. Naturally I like to drive and kick as a guard, but really the beauty of everyone running zone defense is that it’s more egalitarian. The zone forced teams to pass, cut, and get everybody touches. Something that often frustrated me in pickup in the States was one guy8 getting into a mindset of, “I can beat my defender so I’m going to every time,” and the guy ends up taking five shots in a row. This doesn’t really happen with zone defense since even the most selfish player can’t really drive into 3 defenders all looking at him with the ball.
We sliced up the 1-2-2 en route to back to back wins. The strategy of getting the ball to the middle, free throw line jump shots, high-low post passing, and kicking out to shooters served us well in the half court. But we really dominated with transition scoring when we could beat the zone back down the court and force 1on1 or 2on1 situations off of good defensive positions/turnovers. The Indiana Pacers of Xela continue to move on in the tournament without me, remaining undefeated. I’ll be looking out for the WhatsApp message from Fernando when we take the ship, and I’m fully expecting a ring sent to me via DHL when we do.
My final recommendations/takeaways (TLDR): Go to Xela, join a rec league team with Guatemalans, and play more zone defense.
Guatemala City - Campo Marte, Gimnasio Palacio Teodoro Flores
Okay Guatemala City is a strange place. Getting into the hostel late on a Thursday my cab driver was excited hearing that in a few days I was leaving to visit Xela, “Xela is beautiful man, the stone streets, you can walk everywhere, you don’t need a car.”9 Then, everyone at the hostel was only there 1-2 nights before leaving for Antigua. There was a frequent refrain from tourists and Guatemalans alike about how unsafe Guatemala City was. Now I was only there for four days in total (small sample size), but I never really felt in danger. I did however experience the insane traffic when a one hour bus ride for an Antigua day trip turned to 3.5 hours, and immediately understood why everyone hates driving.
The next day I downed a coffee, and made the trek through car hell to the Olympic basketball stadium, Gimnasio Palacio Teodoro Flores: a beautiful indoor basketball complex. Inside were two pristine hardwood courts, while outside hosted a few rows of blue courts where a young women’s basketball team practiced. I couldn’t get into a pickup run then, though a lady selling water told me that people generally come around 3pm. I waited and when still nobody arrived, I went inside the stadium where I saw a few people walking with their basketball shoes tossed over their shoulders. Inside, a kid passed me the ball and let me get a few shots up with him, so I asked him if I could get in on their run. He said I could when more people showed up, but about a minute later a security guard came in to tell me I had to leave, “this court is only for Guatemalans.”
Despite being invited to play I thought this was fair enough, nonetheless it’s a beautiful resource for Guatemalans. The kid let me know this is where their semi-professional league plays, along with recreational and pickup games for free when it’s not in use. The hunt for hoops wouldn’t disappoint. As they say, a bad day of hunting for hoops is better than a good day of work.
I then walked about 30 minutes to Complejo Deportivo Campo Marte. By then it was about 4:30pm and this outdoor sports complex was popping. There’s probably 15 soccer and futsal fields, all of which were in use by some mix of ages of players, the baseball diamond hosted a co-ed baseball game, and thankfully the two basketball courts were both full. Two concurrent 3on3 runs were going on either side of the court, a mix of ages between a group of high school kids, along with 20-30 somethings. At one point even one of the high school kid’s teachers backed down his student in the paint until he took an elbow to the head, breaking the arm on his glasses. I’m usually not as hyped for 3on3 but it was a surprisingly pretty great run despite the average height being shorter than in the States. Could get in some post moves and mid-post jump shot practice in place of my usual floater/drive-and-kick game. My team was a high schooler named Javi with a clean dribble and jump shot, and Chinese Klay Thompson (literally everyone called him “Chino” which he didn’t mind) who told me he was living in Guate for six months as he tried to bring a Chinese car brand over to Central America. We dominated with post entries passing out to threes. Perhaps the most funky 3on3 rule they had at this court was nobody had to take it back on a miss, even if it hits the rim. I feasted on rebounds.
The games kept on till pretty late since the courts were lit reasonably well. I left when both my teammates decided to call it quits. It was a Friday night and easily 20 people were out playing 3s so it was a 2-3 game wait if you lost. I thought it was a little strange they weren’t just playing full court, Javi said they really only play full court on the weekends or if it’s a league/tournament game. Unfortunately I was taking the bus out that weekend and couldn’t make it to see the full court runs. But everyday around 4 or 5 they’re running 3s he assured me.
Some NBA Thoughts While Watching on Amazon Prime Mexico in the Hostel Bar I’m Working at
We’re in the heart of the best time in basketball. March Madness leading into the NBA playoffs leading into the outdoor spring/summer pickup basketball explosion. While the Blazers aren’t in it, there is no better time for basketball in Portland than a summer park run. I’ve written about the epic highs and lows of grown adults (sometimes too intensely) playing recreational basketball in the park on this blog. Recently, my friend Corbin even included a photo of me doing just that in the “Portland Mercury Guide to Fun in Portland,” which I also contributed some music venue write ups to as well. Check out my reliving Dame’s series clincher against OKC at the Spare Room.10
The past few months I’ve mostly been consuming the NBA playoffs watching the Latin American broadcasts of the games, included free with Amazon Prime in Mexico, during my shifts working as a bartender at a hostel here in CDMX. I don’t have much basketball analysis to add other than the Spreadsheet Boys are dead (fuck OKC), Real Hoopers (Jalen Brunson) are back.
It makes me think of how Javi told me most young people in Guatemala watch the NBA (he says he’s a huge fan), which is mostly watching the league through highlight compilation videos on Instagram. League pass, while affordable for foreign tourists abroad, is still very expensive for the average Guatemalan. Javi’s favorite player was Kyrie Irving, and like seemingly every Gen Zer, he doesn’t have a favorite team. When he asked me if Portland had a team I had to say, barely. Though, he did have me name every Blazer till he recognized a player. For the Blazer fans back home, Scoot Henderson is our only hope to captivate the Latin American youth.
Those who put up with talking to me about hoops know I’m a huge Russell Westbrook. Each year his team becomes my adopted league pass team. From a purely stylistic non-results oriented perspective, he’s got to be the most entertaining player to watch. Thankfully this year he landed on the Denver Nuggets leading me to find the Latin American Nuggets Community on Playback.tv11 which is fun to practice Spanish with a group of people who love Jokic and have mixed feelings about my GOAT, Russ.12 As I’m writing, the series is tied 2-2, but I am fully confident in the Nugs. The power of 30 Latinos screaming online about “El Gordito Serb” is really too much cosmic power behind un Gordito Serb that’s already the best player in the world.
Considering my own particular special interests of playing competitive sports with other adults.
Nuggets fans please read to the end!!
Quetzaltenango is the city’s official name, which is a spanish-ization of a Nautil word due to the Nautil guides the Spanish Conquistadors had when they first invaded Guatemala from southern Mexico. The Spanish invaders named everything based on what their guides told them, however literally everyone who lives here just uses the Mayan name for the city: Xela (short for Xelaju).
Saw an adult rec league soccer game with easily 100 fans in attendance and complete with street food venders. At one point two guys got into a fight and the ref threw a red card so the players started kicking dirt on the ref while the crowd taunted the player who got kicked out.
Also if you like any other sport they’ve got that for you too.
Nobody in Guate knew about Portland or the Blazers.
It didn’t keep him out though, tightened his shoelaces and got back in the game.
Who is either really good, or thinks he is really good.
An encouraging comment for my particular interests but somewhat strange for someone who ostensibly works by driving a car in a different city. Then again, maybe he hates driving a car too, don’t most of us hate our jobs?
RIP Dame :(
Shout out B-Tow from the Basketball Boyz, my Portland City League teammate, who hooked me up with an account on Playback.tv & sorry about the Cavs brother.
Game 1 Russ gaming winning assist will feed families, my boy is hungry for a ship.