This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PHILADELPHIA -- Jazz Chisholm Jr. isn’t the only Marlin doing the Euro step these days.

After the Marlins used early morning CrossFit workouts to bond during Spring Training, manager Skip Schumaker was looking for another way to involve the entire traveling party -- from the medical to communications staffs -- while the team is on the road.

Schumaker’s right-hand man, bench coach Luis Urueta, brought up D-backs manager Torey Lovullo coordinating basketball games at NBA or college facilities during Urueta’s time in Arizona. Schumaker liked the idea, so the Marlins began playing pickup games in early May, when the club’s hotel in San Francisco included a court.

From then on, director of team travel and clubhouse operations Max Thomas, as well as others, have used their connections to secure courts on the second morning of every series. This week, the Marlins have played at the University of Kansas and Temple University.

Not only does it break up the monotony of the regular season, but it also gets the competitive juices flowing. The Marlins shoot for teams, then play up to 11 points for four to five games so everyone can rotate in.

“That part is fun,” Schumaker said. “It gets competitive, but honestly, it's just the bonding that is the most important to me, and then sweating is also good. I just don't want guys to get hurt. [Urueta] got hurt, already blew out his calf, like, the first five minutes of the first game, which was a little embarrassing as a young bench coach. To be the first guy to blow out is not ideal. It's just fun to get the [communications team], the radio and medical staff [all involved]. That part's the most important part.”

How exactly did the Colombian-born Urueta aggravate his calf, which he initially hurt while playing soccer months before?

“I was trying to guard [first-base coach Jon Jay],” Urueta said. “We're pretty competitive. He's got lateral movement better than I do. It's fun. We liked it, and I think it's special when you're going through rough times at the field to have a good time off the field, to have some fun and bond.”

Though there are some former big leaguers on the Marlins' coaching staff, that doesn’t mean they make for the best players on the hardwood. According to Schumaker, those superlatives are saved for Andrew Turpin (Major League physical therapist), Eric Reigelsberger (Major League assistant athletic trainer), Thomas and Stephen Strom (broadcast coordinator). Turpin was on practice squads in college, and Strom played college ball.

“Very below average, hard trier,” Schumaker said of his scouting report. “I don't even look the part. I'm not even tall [5-foot-10] for a high school team, so I'm not very good.”

The Marlins generally play pickup games with one other, but they did square off against the D-backs at Grand Canyon University in late May.

So who was victorious and earned bragging rights?

“I think we won the first one, which is the one that counts, and then they won the other three,” Urueta said with a smile.