In the annals of odd sports juxtapositions, a Jamaican national basketball team descended on the sleepy Seattle suburb of Kirkland last week. They practiced for an international tournament inside the lone full court at Eastside Basketball Club, which shares that space, even, with other businesses—hence all the groups of toddlers … being led by teachers … tiny hands holding the same string … up the court’s sideline … right by practice.
“They” meant four players and three coaches, all of whom gathered inside the Bridle Trails Shopping Center, in an area of Kirkland that’s exactly how the name sounds. EBC sits between a chicken joint and a martial arts studio, nearby a hardware store, a bubble tea spot and a grocery market.
