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span class="caption" style="width: 378px;">Next big thing: Players practice for a streetball camp in Yogyakarta last year. Streetball, or street basketball, is gaining popularity in Indonesia’s major cities. www.la-lightsstreetball.comIndonesia may not be top dog in Asian basketball — let alone the world — but in streetball, the country has stolen the limelight for the past eight years.

“It’s a promising form of ‘sportainment’ for Indonesia, Denny Yustiadi, one of Indonesia’s pioneers in streetball, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the 2012 L.A. Lights Streetball press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“The game’s development has been going well, we have at least four significant streetball communities in each of the larger cities nationwide. You do the math,” Denny added.

Originating in the US, streetball is a variation of basketball that is typically played on an outdoor court and features significantly less structure and rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players showcase their own individual skills.

A game can consist of one player against another (one-on-one), two-on-two, three-on-three or even five-on-five — just like a conventional game of basketball. The game, however, emphasizes a player’s creative handling and ball-dunking skills.

The sport first came to Indonesia in 2001 through US-based sports shoe company Nike. At the time, Nike formed a group called Nike Freestyle to introduce the game to a nationwide audience. Denny was a member of that group.

After four years of promoting the game, in 2005 L.A. Lights started to fully sponsor streetball events.

“I’ve played games and also taken on the role as a judge in previous streetball events,” said Denny, who is nicknamed D-Rockz.

Denny, who will be an emcee at the 2012 L.A Lights Streetball event, said that the country needed more large-scale events to promote the game at the grassroots level.

“Different from conventional basketball, streetball still has room for players to grow. This is a unique game with its own regulations, and it is a good match for people who don’t like boundaries,” he added.

Denny claimed that the 2011 L.A. Lights Streetball event was the nation’s and Asia’s biggest streetball event, with former NBA All-Star Dennis Rodman attending the grand final.

Streetball started to sponsor eight All-Star players in 2009. All-Star players are those who have had above-standard skills in either handling or dunking the ball throughout the year.

Last year’s All-Star players were Rico, Muhammad Iqbal, Andreas Nico Christianto, Mohammad “Bicek” Firmasyah, Listyan Maulana Malik, Rahmad Edi Gunawan Pasaribu, Andi Pallawagau and Anthony Gunawan.

Lana, short for Listyan Maulana, said that he felt grateful to be able to shine in the game of streetball. He has held the All-Stars throne since 2007.

“I’ve found streetball to be an interesting activity, ever since I was in junior high school,” said the 22-year-old from Medan, South Sumatra. “But in streetball, you have to master the game of basketball first. So, I focused on basketball during my three years of high school, before eventually building a career here [in streetball].”

Despite his true love, Lana said that basketball and streetball could never be combined. “In streetball, you show off things that you can’t do in basketball, and vice versa.”

Lana said that he hoped L.A. Lights would sponsor the All-Stars team on an Asian tour to meet overseas streetballers and shape their on-court skills and mentality.

Responding to such a request, event organizer Hasani Abdulgani said that he had an even better plan. “We’re planning to take the All-Star players to a sort of a summer camp in New York in the future, but we don’t have a fixed date yet.”

Hasani said that the quality of Indonesian streetball was as high as the US and France. “Instead of giving them [Indonesian All-Stars] an Asian tour, why don’t we bring them to the land of streetball?”

This year, the L.A Lights Streetball event will have seven open runs in Malang, East Java; Bandung, West Java; Jakarta; Medan, North Sumatra; Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan; Surabaya, East Java and Yogyakarta. Each open run will be held on a two-day basis.

Hasani hoped that the organizers would be able to invite NBA player Allen Iverson.

The first open run in Malang will be held this weekend. The final round will held in Jakarta on Oct. 19-20.