Dwyane addressing some of the ballers at Open Gym

This past Saturday was huge day for Dime and Converse. For the third year in a row, November 3rd marked the launch of Dwyane Wade’s signature shoe. This year, it was the day the WADE 3 officially hit the streets. On top of that, the sneaker release coincided with the launch of Converse’s Open Gym movement – a massive program designed to bring basketball back to its purest form – with no refs and no coaches; just pickup ball all day long. Hoopers of all ages got after it all day long, and we were there for all of it.

The event took place at Miami’s Overtown Youth Center. The center, located just minutes from American Airlines Arena, welcomed over 200 of Miami’s finest to come and play ball, listen to music, get some good eats, new kicks and the chance to spend some time with Dwyane himself.

A wall of WADE 3s for the kids

Dwyane was all over the event. He spent time monitoring games, registering players, and taking pictures with participants. Then, when it was all said and done, he spoke with the kids gave away hundreds of pairs of his new shoe.

“We got to involve the kids,” Dwyane told us. “I didn’t want a fancy shoe release party like we’ve done before. We brought it to Open Gym, where basketball first started, on the hard top. There’s not a lot of places to go out and just play anymore. The kids got to play ball and got to take home the WADE 3s, a free personal gift from my collection.”

Every participant received an Open Gym Registration Card that will allow them to participate in all the other Miami-area Open Gym events that will happen over the next several months. Converse Open Gym will run throughout March in the Miami area, as well as in Philadelphia and Chicago. For more info on Open Gym, check out Converse.com.