We Love Brussels
  • Urban Life
    • Urban Jungle
    • Photo Stories
    • But Why?
    • Smart City
    • City Branding
    • Seniors
    • Real Estate
  • Culture & Creativity
    • New Economy
    • Local Makers & Shakers
    • Illustrations
    • Fashion City
  • Discover & Meet
    • Travel & Tourism news
    • Foodie guide
  • Event Diary
  • Europolitan Trends
Brussels Inspiration Bureau
Social Links
Instagram 56K Followers
Facebook 57K Followers
Twitter 10K Followers
  • Our Story
  • Partnerships & Collaborations
  • Contact
56K
57K
10K
We Love Brussels
We Love Brussels
  • Urban Life
    • Urban Jungle
    • Photo Stories
    • But Why?
    • Smart City
    • City Branding
    • Seniors
    • Real Estate
  • Culture & Creativity
    • New Economy
    • Local Makers & Shakers
    • Illustrations
    • Fashion City
  • Discover & Meet
    • Travel & Tourism news
    • Foodie guide
  • Event Diary
  • Europolitan Trends
  • Community news
  • Building the platform
  • Community of city admirers
  • Partnerships & Collaborations
  • Get in Touch
Become our contributor. Join the team!

Sign up for our newsletter

Get our periodical updates. Zero spam.

  • community

Bball in the Sky – Basketball project in Brussels

  • Aleksandra Rowicka
  • February 11, 2020
  • 3 minute read

Meet Dr. Mehdi Ouil Kherroubi, PhD, Guest Professor in Management, who dedicates most of his available time to basketball and his ambitious project “Bball in the Sky”.

Mehdi plays basketball since he was 10 years old. Being challenged by his classmates, he started on a playground in front of his primary school. Now, he plays around 5 days a week in his club and with his friends and aims to offer open-air basketball courts to Brussels’ community.

AR: Please tell us about the project.

MO:   “Bball in the Sky” is about playing basketball on original spots such as rooftops and to combine with artistic designs. It exists all around the World and the main idea is to offer open air basketball courts to large community. We have managed to organize our first pop-up in Strokar Inside, in the place full of street art and positive energy.

Before
After

In December the court was opened for 7 days and in total it was visited by about 350 people. We had big event and also a 3 x 3 basketball tournament, which was organized with the help of our partner Ballinshape. There was a lot of excitement, as most probably it was the first time such an event was organized in Belgium.

We have received great support from many people. Co-founders of Strokar Inside, Alexandra Lambert and Fred Atax, offered to organize a basketball court in their venue. 

We are also thankful to the artists who got involved. We have asked very famous street artist here in Brussels, Dema, to help with design based on concept of the Bball in the Sky. He created peaceful, blue environment on the floor and historical timeline of basketball all around the playground. Eijun, traphouse DJ from Traphousebxl, helped as well during the events. The magnificent backboards were provided by Adeps. We had the support from the basketball federation AWBB. The European school club borrowed us the scoreboards.

We have been encouraged by some politicians and athletes. I would like also to thank all the members of my team Bball in the Sky and to the members of the SOSC association. Without all of the support, this event wouldn’t be so insane. 

AR: Great interest, artists, partners – this means that the project has many aspects.

MO: Yes, for us it is important to come together. To meet people come from different social classes, with different perspectives. Unfortunately in Brussels people from different backgrounds do not meet each other a lot.

There are different expectations from both sides. Players from the less privileged social class would like to have good sports infrastructures. Other players, would also like to experience more artistic touch of basketball culture, nice clothes for example.

Being active in sports is also a way to meet new friends and be around people. If you spend most of your time alone, reading or in front of your PC, you will become crazy.  Bball in the Sky will offer easy access to courts in the streets, what will strengthen the sports community in the city.

AR: Strokar Inside has been unfortunately closed. What are your plans for the future?

MO: We would like to implement such courts all around the city. Brussels is a very warm and welcoming city, let’s give tourists even more attractions.

We work on a project to have a pop-up court in summer. It would be located very close to historical heart of Brussels. We think about Place du Nouveau Marche aux Grains, but of course it requires a lot of involvement and funds. I hope the public authorities and new partners will help us a lot.

We are also looking for a new logo design for the Bball in the Sky project.  It would be great to receive ideas from our community. We have published information about this initiative on our social media, for example on Facebook here.

Note below:

Mehdi would like to thank everyone who helped: Benoit Hellings, Bea Diallo, Nabil Messaoudi, Noemi Lins, Évelyne Huytebroeck, Lionel Loris, Amory Gorgemans, Patrick Nyamsi, Loïc Mehdi Jaumotte and Nick Celis. Patrick Agosthino , Gilles Preux, David Nenkam, Daouda Kouyate, Mathieu Nocent, Mc Younes, Donya Rezapour and César Castelain. Moussa Diakite, Gian Battista,  Mohamed Debdabi and Isaac Bosenge, Mathieu Nocent. Manza, Rachid, Arabi, Najib, Bora, Antoine, Mehdi Khammal, Dimitri, Leyla, Fatima, Charlotte, Raphaela, Gilles Liessens, Christophe Kuge, Manou, Olivier Dumu, Paolo, Jawad, Nabil, Emmanuelle Einhorn, Karim, Roland, Regis Manuella, Farida, Amal, Hans, Aronaldinho and Zahira.

Total
16
Shares
Like 16
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Like 0
Share 0
Aleksandra Rowicka

Addicted to cultural life of Brussels, fashion photography and dark chocolate. Author of the Twirling Hair blog.

You May Also Like
View Post
  • community

World Mental Health Day 2022

  • Editorial Team
  • October 10, 2022
View Post
  • community
  • culture & creativity
  • local makers & shakers

The Nine, Brussels’ first female-focused members’ club

  • Editorial Team
  • December 7, 2021
View Post
  • community
  • New Economy

#DearEtterbeek – Let’s support local businesses together!

  • Editorial Team
  • September 23, 2021
Brussels Inspiration Bureau

Exploring the best of Brussels since 2014.

Discover more!
Our columnists & bloggers:
Aleksandra Rowicka
Addicted to cultural life of Brussels, fashion photography and dark…
Aris Setya
Indonesian living in Brussels. Passionate about photography. Love…
Boro Milovic
Boro is the founder and editor-in-chief of WeLoveBrussels. His interests…
Dorka Demeter
Dorka is a Hungarian expat living in Brussels for 10 years. Admirer of…
Emilia Valbum
Expat from Copenhagen living in Brussels. EU + global politics nerd on…
Fadi Dalati
A urologist by profession, and a photographer by passion. I try to…
Julia Zelle
Half-Italian, half-German girl who has just moved to Bruxelles.…
Karolina
Karolina is a blogger sharing stories on European cities, local…
kateinbrussels
I am Kate. I've lived in Brussels for 16 years and am still discovering…
Meredith @ellesbxl
Meredith Geldof is a Flemish girl who moved to Brussels and enjoys…
Tireless_Traveler
Nath is born and raised in Brussels but with a serious case of…
Download our free guide!
Incentives & events in Brussels:
Incentives & events in Brussels:
Missed our printed edition?
Press Club Brussels Europe
As seen in
25 most popular instagram accounts in Belgium

Views & opinions expressed across this website are solely that of the authors and contributors themselves and may not reflect the position of WeLoveBrussels. The editorial or publisher of WeLoveBrussels cannot be held responsible for expressed opinions or unintended errors and oversights if any.

Get our periodical updates. Zero spam.

Instagram 56K Followers
Facebook 57K Followers
Twitter 10K Followers
WeLoveBrussels
  • Our story & more
  • Get in Touch
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal notice
Brussels Inspiration Bureau. Your guide to city life, culture, business, travel, Brussels events agenda & cultural diplomacy.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT