Enjoying the #enjoy_basketball event!
Hello everyone! I’m Eri from the MCO (Market Creation Office).
We are now in the rainy season, and the days of fighting against humidity have arrived. In this issue, we would like to bring a refreshing breeze to the humid season and report on the “Enjoy Basketball” event that was held in May!
日本語の記事はこちらから
■How it began
It all started with an invitation from Reona of the XD (Experience Design) team, creator of the Slack #enjoy_basketball channel.
As this was the first basketball event and everyone was welcome, I decided to participate. Since I don't know many people in the company yet, I was very nervous as I waited for the event.
■Facility
On a Saturday in mid-May, the long-awaited Enjoy Basketball day arrived! The games were held at a facility with futsal courts in Toyocho.
After completing registration at the entrance, we were surprised to find a cafeteria where they served beer between the entrance and basketball court! If anyone uses this facility in the future, be sure to enjoy a beer after exercising. (No drinks this time, though!)
■Flow
Now let me tell you about the event!
〇Stretching
After changing in the changing room, we headed to the court. Before we began, we stretched individually. As I had not exercised in quite some time, I made sure to stretch for as much as I can, just to be sure!
〇Shooting practice
After stretching, the participants practiced shooting with both their own equipment and equipment from the facility. Everyone practiced and showed off their layups and beautiful three-pointers.
〇Layup practice
From there, team practice, organized by an experienced basketball player, began! Split up into pairs using half the court, the shooter started on the right side of the hoop while the passer stood in the center. The shooter passes, runs toward the hoop, receives a pass back, and then shoots. Shooting took place in turns, while also switching to the left side as well.
〇3-on-3
Next was 3-on-3, where the players were divided into offense and defense. Using half the court once again, the players were divided into right, center, and left positions, and the game started with the center offensive player. The offensive team would take turns taking shots, but if the ball was intercepted by the defensive team, the intercepted player would switch to the defense team.
The warm up lasted about 45 minutes, followed by a quick break. Afterwards, game time began!
By the way, one other person from MCO, Mr. Handa, who wrote the article about "UX Intelligence Association," also participated in the event. He injured his leg during warmup and stated, "I didn't expect to go down during the warmup." How clever…
〇Gametime!
Finally, it was time for a full-court game! While (non-NBA) basketball games are officially 10 minutes per quarter with 4 quarters for a total of 40 minutes, our games were played in a 5-minute format, with the team members changing each time.
Thanks to the reminders through Slack, there were 15 members who joined the event along with a few family members. The 5-on-5 games were very lively with a referee, scorekeeper, timekeeper, and people cheering the players on!
The battle between teams consisting of experienced players, beginners, men, and women, quickly heated up into games with a dizzying array of offensive and defensive players!
Some players made brilliant layup shots, while some made accurate jump shots. Some easily made 3-point shots, some were strong under the hoop, some kept running, some made no-look passes, and some cut in with sharp dribbling. The games were so intense that five minutes seemed like an instant.
However, when I stepped on the court to play, I realized just how long the five minutes actually was. I was out of breath about 2 minutes into the game, and felt my daily lack of exercise catching up to me. (I didn't make a single shot, but everyone was very kind.)
There was also one scene that felt very ‘beBit’!
When a pass was intercepted during a game, the players shouted, "UCD, UCD, think about your opponent!” The fact that the words "UCD (User Centered Design)" came out so naturally was a very ‘beBit’ moment, and it was great to see everyone enjoying themselves to the fullest, both work and play.
Before I knew it, two hours quickly passed and it was time to clean up. We returned the balls and bibs we had borrowed from the facility and finished up by dividing the fees.
I was very refreshed after exercising as hard as I could for two hours and sweating like a waterfall.
This Enjoy Basketball event was also a valuable opportunity for us to connect with people from other departments that we do not usually have an opportunity to meet in real life.
They are planning to host another event, so if you are interested, please join us! Thank you very much to Reona for organizing this event, and to everyone who participated!
■Coming soon…
We'll be bringing you an Inside beBit article in our next Open Newsletter! Stay tuned!