Nike’s Peach Jam is the crown jewel of grassroots basketball and I have been privileged to document the event since 2014. In 2019 I assembled an incredible group of talented storytellers to help me bring a vision of mine that has been brewing for years to life. The result is One Peachy Moment.
After a spring season of three weekends where 40 teams from across America and Canada compete, the top 24 earn a bid to the Elite Youth Basketball League’s culminating event. Only one team, however, will be enjoying fresh, sweet peaches on that fateful Sunday in July.
Picture NCAA March Madness, but imagine all of the courtside seats occupied by the likes of Tom Izzo, Coach K, John Calipari, Jay Wright, Roy Williams, and pretty much every college basketball coach. Teams are fighting for grassroots supremacy and padding their resume for playing at the game’s highest levels. Many of the alumni hear their names called on draft night in June year after year. Some of them arrive at basketball’s upper echelon. All of them weave into the fabric of basketball lore that is Peach Jam. Most will share candidly that a Peach Jam title means more than a state championship at the high school level.
I get excited just thinking about it. It’s a challenge to find the right words to give it its fair praise. The emotion that goes into the event from all angles is instantly palpable right from the door. I directed this piece with the help of a brilliant group of creatives and storytellers and I could not be more pleased with the outcome.
Special thank you to Sean Phazes, Shawn Deloney, Eric Delgado, Alex Woodhouse, Royce Paris, Aldin Medunjanin, Uri Israel, Jay Spinks, Emir Lewis, and Miles Franklyn for sharing their tremendous talents with me for one special week. And thank you to the good people of the EYBL who gave me the support and enabled my ambitions.
You must be logged in to post a comment.