Tri-Cities event takes aim at Guinness World Record. Here’s how you can be a part of it

Bryce Leavitt is looking for a few basketball shooters next weekend.

Actually, he’s looking for 800 of them.

Leavitt, along with Curve Shark Productions, has set up an event at the Kennewick High School gymnasium on Saturday, May 11. It’s called The TC World Record Shootout.

It’ll be an attempt to break the Guinness World Records mark of basketball bump, or knockout.

“My goal is to get 800 people in the game, and 5,000 people watching,” said Leavitt.

It’s also a chance to help out a couple of local charities — Safe Harbor and 2nd Harvest.

The event will cost each participant $5.

For $5, you get to play bump/knockout and also a T-shirt and a picture to commemorate the attempt.

Leavitt is a Kennewick High School graduate who played college basketball at Washington State University and North Idaho College before finishing his collegiate career at Seattle Pacific University.

He then played professional basketball in Germany, at Paderborn, as a rookie in 2016-17, and at Muenster for the 2017-18 season.

But he broke his ankle and has been rehabilitating it at home in the Tri-Cities. He sat out the 2018-19 pro season and has been looking for the right offer to go back to Europe.

In European professional basketball, there can be a week between games. Leavitt says you must find things to do.

World record by Dallas Mavericks

While in Germany, he came across the Guinness World Records mark for most people playing a game of basketball bump, or knockout. The record is 701 people. The NBA’s Dallas Mavericks set the record in 2015.

According to Guinness’ website, “The game lasted 27 rounds and more than three hours, with 22-year-old John Diggs winning the game and season tickets to the Mavericks. Owner Mark Cuban was on hand before the attempt to check out the court and the turnout.”

Leavitt looked at that 701 number and said, “That’s a lot of people, but not impossible.”

Seven weeks ago, he committed to breaking the record.

“So 800 people is our goal. It was just an idea of something that popped into my head,” Leavitt said. “I decided to just go for it, and the community has rallied behind it.”

How to play Bump Basketball

Bump, or Knockout, Leavitt says, “is essentially basketball musical chairs. It’s a giant, single-file line.”

Two people are at the free-throw line and they both shoot from there. If one person makes it, and one person doesn’t, the person who missed is out of the game and the free-throw maker goes to the back of the line. If both shooters make their shots, they’re still in the game and go to the back of the line. If both shooters miss, they run to grab their rebounds, get back to the free-throw line, and shoot until one of them makes their shot and the other is eliminated.

Leavitt — now fully cleared to play basketball again and waiting for his agency to weigh professional offers — spends much of his free time as a substitute teacher in the Kennewick School District, as well as being a personal trainer for younger athletes.

His alma mater jumped on board with his idea.

“Kennewick High and the Kennewick school district have both been super supportive,” he said.

Leavitt has 35 people helping run the event, including 20 Kennewick High volunteers.

Leavitt’s good friend, James Swinyard of Bissy Energy, has also been a partner in this event.

“He’s done almost as much as me,” said Leavitt. “He’s helped a ton.”

Leavitt also knew he needed something else to make it a standout event.

“When I first learned it could take three to four hours, I was wondering how to entertain everybody,” he said. “So there will be a street fair outside the gym with food, drinks and music.”

School could win $1,000

To keep people around to make sure it’s a record, there will be consolation prizes.

The winner — the last shooter standing — gets a grand prize of $1,000.

The school with the most students entered to play also gets $1,000 for its athletic department.

The rest will go to the charities.

“Once we’ve sent the evidence to Guinness, they’ll look at it and determine if it’s officially a world record,” Leavitt said.

Participants can sign up this week at www.curveshark.com/worldrecord. Pre-registration on the day of the event begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, and the official game starts at noon.

Leavitt is optimistic that enough people will show up to help set the record.

“The game is super inclusive,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what age, what gender or what skill level. Mom and Dad can bring the three kids and join them in the game. We need mom and dad to play too. Anybody who can shoot a free throw is welcome. We need the community to rally around this.”

For more information, call 509-551-7219, or visit www.curveshark.com

This story was originally published May 5, 2019 at 4:05 PM.