More than 1,900 players and as many as 12,000 spectators will fill Downtown Yakima streets this weekend for the 13th Annual Hot Shots 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament. The tournament will feature a total of 481, the second most entries in the event’s history.
To accommodate the nearly 40 courts and a large vendor area, several sections of streets in Downtown Yakima will be closed from the evening of Friday, August 28th until the evening of Sunday, August 30th. For those days, no traffic will be allowed on Yakima Avenue between
1st Street and Naches Avenue, 2nd Street between Chestnut Avenue and the alley half a block north of Yakima Avenue, and 3rd Street between Chestnut Avenue and the alley half a block north of Yakima Avenue. Only local traffic will be allowed on 4th Street between Chestnut Avenue and Yakima Avenue from Friday evening until Sunday evening.
“The Hot Shots tournament has become one of the biggest 3 on 3 events in the Northwest,” said City of Yakima Economic Development Manager Sean Hawkins. “The hard work of the Yakima Sports Commission and the many volunteers who make the event run have paid off,” said Hawkins.
The Hot Shots 3 or 3 tournament includes multiple age divisions for boys and girls teams and features women’s, men’s, and coed divisions for adults. Each team can have no more than four players and no fewer than three players. Each game lasts 20 minutes. If teams are tied after the regulation 20 game time, the winner is decided by a free throw shootout.
Since 3rd Street between Chestnut Avenue and Yakima Avenue will be being utilized by the Hot Shots tournament, the Yakima Farmer’s Market will be held on 3rd Street between Chestnut Avenue and Walnut Street (one block south of its normal location) this Sunday.
Free parking for Hot Shots players and spectators will be available in the public lot near the Millennium Plaza (between 2nd Street and 3rd Street), which can be accessed from Chestnut Avenue, the public lot at the corner of 2nd Street and S Sgt Pendleton Way, the Yakima County Courthouse lot, which can be accessed from S Sgt Pendleton Way, the public lot off of 1st Street near the Barrel House restaurant, and any available on-street spaces including multiple new, angled spaces recently created by the City.
The first games of the 2015 Hot Shots 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament will begin at 9:00 am on Saturday. Sunday’s play will tip off at 8:00 am. The finals in each division will take place Sunday afternoon and evening.
For more information about this year’s tournament, visit the official Hot Shots 3 on 3 website at http://hotshots3on3.com/.