Dubai Storm are giving former professional and college basketball players a home to continue enjoying the game they love in the UAE.
The professional-amateur team based in Dubai compete in the Dubai Amateur Basketball Association (DABA) D-League, as well as various other tournaments.
Founded in 2012, the Storm are fully sponsored by 3SM Strategic Sports Development, headed by Abdullah Taryam.
The basketball lover and former coach at American University of Sharjah decided to form a team as an extension of his company and promote basketball in the region.
“We first got involved in youth basketball in 2011 and we were approached by some youth basketball teams so they could participate in expat and amateur leagues here. We decided against that and went ahead with creating our own brand and team,” Taryam said.
“We wanted to go ahead and do something to help the basketball community in Dubai. We saw a lot of teams that participate, they keep changing their players game in and game out and don’t have corporate uniforms. So we wanted to do it the right way. We wanted to manage it properly and that’s what we did.”
The Storm built their team with the logo resembling 3SM and the team’s home and away jerseys matching the corporate colours of black, grey and highlighter yellow.
Taryam, with his past experience, became the coach and his partner at 3SM, Aleco El Hayek, became the captain. From there, the two invited players they knew would be a good fit and held tryouts to fill out the rest of the team, which has remained the same since forming.
“We’re proud to say we’ve kept the majority of our players,” Taryam added.
“We don’t like changing. We stuck with basically the same, original eight who are still with us. We only have tryouts before the first season starts and we keep the same team because we know it takes time for them to gel with each other.”
The Storm play three D-League seasons, which last about two-anda- half months.
They have had good success in the D-League – arguably the most competitive basketball league in the UAE – and finished as runnersup in 2013 following a 5-1 regular season. However, they’re still www.dubaistorm.com searching for that elusive title.
Outside of the league, the Storm are scrimmage partners of Al Nasr and also play colleges in the region like American University of Dubai.
Along with the Storm, 3SM focuses on the youth level and organises the High School Basketball Championship for schools in the UAE.
With basketball on the rise in the region, the Dubai Storm have created a foothold as one of the more recognised clubs around.
Taryam said: “The team is something we want to use to promote our company, our brand and to stay involved in the basketball community.”
