We are athletes that have believed for a long time that the cost of gear an athlete wears is not important to success of the athlete. As young players we had very little money but a lot of love for the game. We played hard nearly every night and we were good. Our gear was worn out from constant playing and was the opposite of top-of-the-line. We went through shoes in weeks and our low paying jobs did not allow us to replace worn out gear with high priced stuff. Our love for the game and competition and teamwork and camaraderie made us happy to spend our evenings at the park playing.
Sometimes new players would arrive at our court all decked out in expensive gear and with a big attitude. They usually left without winning a game and never came back.
That’s where our philosophy came from. It never mattered what the player looked like or what they were wearing. Either your could play or you couldn’t. And that reality has never changed.