Across the first weekend of Feb, the much loved basketball festival Summer Jam made its annual return at Melbourne’s Princes Gardens—bringing the community together for three days of ball, food, music and fashion.
The Jam, presented by Foot Locker and Jordan, is one of only three basketball tournaments in the world supported by Jordan, and also celebrated its 11th anniversary this year. The weekend saw a turnout of over 5000 people, who all came down to watch 32 teams comprised of the best pro-amateur streetball players go head-to-head and compete for the national championship. In the end it was Draft City who took home the championship 17-13 against the Mighty Ducks. For the women’s championship, Blues Crew took the win scoring 9-1 against YTG.
The festival is also renowned for its iconic Summer Jam Slam Dunk competition, which brings together some of the best dunkers from around the globe to show off their gravity-defying skills. This year it was Guy Dupuy, aka Frequent Flyer, who took home the coveted slam dunk championship after flying over multiple bodies, as well as over Summer Jam’s MC, Tater, who sat under the ring on a motorbike.
Summer Jam is known amongst the community for being more than simply a basketball tournament. In line with this, the festival was graced with multiple performances from some of our favourite Australian acts, among the likes of Pania, A.Girl, and 15 y/o rapper Lee—who all performed on a stage in the middle of the court.
The Complex team also spent some time out amongst the crowd scouting the best looks, and there was no shortage of clean fits and sneakers and on display.
Other highlights included a literal jam-eating competition, Red Bull’s Half Court tournament, and an incredible selection of DJs curated by Teejae Mai.
