3x3 - Interview with Reigo Kimmel

TALLINN (3x3) - In 2006 Reigo Kimmel  probably never imagined that Estonia participating in the first  3x3 Youth World Championship in Rimini, but thanks to his relentless hard work over the past five years, FIBA recognised in him a truly great ambassador for 3x3 basketball in that part of the world.

He now dreams of seeing Estonia compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio. With 3x3 exploding in the Baltics, Reigo is as motivated as ever to keep organising tournaments in the wonderful city of Tallinn and throughout Estonia.  

 

 

Organizer's Profile

Name/Surname: Reigo Kimmel Age: 31 years old Studies: Tallinn University of Technology - BA in Public Management Current activities: Promoting and hosting 3x3 basketball events in Estonia and together with Latvian, Russian and Lithuanian partners abroad. Working in the social media and online video marketing business.

Reigo' s tournament name is "Tanavakorvpall", in 2011 he hosted seven events in Estonia. The final was held in Tallinn under name of "Sprite Streetball Tallinn Open 2011". Of the 18 teams playing in the Tallinn Open, ten were from other countries in Europe, clearly showing that 3x3 basketball is taken seriously in Estonia and that there are no signs of it slowing down.

Check out the Tanavakorvpall and other Estonian 3x3 events here.

To watch the highlights from the Tallinn Open 2011 dunk contest, click here.

FIBA: Why did you start your own 3x3 event?
Reigo Kimmel: The first 3x3 streetball tournaments were played in Estonia in 1993. It was the main summer sport event until the year 2000, when running, BMX, skate, extreme and other sports went also popular. The tournament was organised for ten straight years from 1993 to 2003 by the same organiser, but that was it. There was a pause of 3x3 tournaments in 2004 and 2005.
My first games at the tournament were in 1996. Ten years later I still wanted to play and we decided to bring the famous 3x3 tournament back to life. I gathered a group of friends and founded an NGO called Youth Sport Estonia. Although one of the ideas was to play amongst ourselves as well, well I haven't got a chance to do it yet.

FIBA: How has it developed through the years?
Reigo Kimmel:  When we started in 2006 we made agreements with the Estonian Basketball Federation to make the new tournament as 3x3 Estonian Championship. From there it has been on every summer 6-9 event series tournament that are ending with Grand Final Stage. The average teams per tournament have doubled, reaching from 50+ teams in 2006 adding up to about 200 players to 100+ teams adding up to 400 players in 2011. In total there are 9 different age groups from 12-years old boys to Estonian Champion League players.

2008 we found that everybody in Estonia had basically played with everybody at least in their age group, so we decided to make it more international and invited also Latvian and Lithuanian teams to the final stages of Estonian Championship. The final stage was called "Baltic Open", however already in 2009 there were 7 countries in total - so more countries than just three Baltic States.

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is the Culture Capital of Europe 2011 and therefore we got a chance to make the 2011 3x3 streetball Final Stage even bigger and more international. We renamed the tournament to "Tallinn Open 2011" and together with the Cultural Capital and our Street Basketball Alliance friends there were 18 teams from 10 countries playing in Tallinn's main City Square on the 13th of August 2011. Also the 3x3 Estonian Championship tournament was held on the same surrounding courts. It was the biggest streetball event in 2011 at least in North-Europe.

The main quality growth of the tournament came in 2009 when we signed long-term agreement with Sprite as the main partner for Estonian 3x3 streetball. From there the tournaments have reached new levels in marketing and media as you can see and not to mention it's also pretty green on the event site as well.

FIBA: What in your opinion makes 3x3 basketball so special?
Reigo Kimmel: For Estonian basketball the 3x3 format is very special. Estonia played at the first Olympic Games in Basketball in 1936 at Berlin. The first game was against France, we touched the first jump ball and won the game. However as optimistic as I am - with the total population of less than 1,5 million people there's no chance for Estonian basketball team to reach to the Olympics or World Championship tournaments in the future.

In 3x3, the game is different , you only need four  guys instead of 8-12, good teamwork and sometimes a little bit of luck. With 3 against 3 players there isn't the issue of country size and total population. On a good day four players from a smaller country can kick out any traditional basketball country in a win or lose system, as we have already witnessed in tournaments in Moscow and Rimini.

FIBA: How did it feel being in Rimini for the under 18 3x3 Youth World Championship and seeing Estonia perform on a global stage?
Reigo Kimmel: It was unbelievable, our guys were shorter and less powerful than most of the strong teams. We estimated that if we reached the playoff stage then it would be a very good result. Making it to quarter finals we thought would be the maximum that our team could manage and we never imagined that Estonia would be playing in semi-final of the 3x3 Basketball World Championship tournament.

For me in the U18 3x3 World Championship there were two key moments. The first one being Estonia winning all eight of it's group games, the only other team to do that was Italy and we were ranked second overall! The other one was when we beat USA 21-12 in the quarter-finals, the only other time Estonia beat USA was during a friendly game in 1970, so when will that ever happen again! Of course losing by one point in the semi-finals to Bulgaria and to Italy for the bronze medal was surely unfortunate, however I really felt that Estonia was capable of winning it all!

FIBA: What are your thoughts about FIBA developing 3x3?
Reigo Kimmel: It is important that finally there is official support for 3x3 basketball with a precise goal which is to take it from the streets to the Olympics. Official support grows media interest and in turn that will bring more spectators and better quality to organising 3x3 tournaments.  Another important point of development is to make similar rules for the 3x3 format. Traditionally it has been played with different rules (time, check ball etc). Having common rules is the main foundation for developing the sport worldwide.

FIBA: Where do you see 3x3 basketball in the next ten years?
Reigo Kimmel: I think I'll be one of the first to book tickets for the 2016 Olympics at Rio to see if Estonia is again playing in the first game. But in ten years from now there will already be the first 3x3 basketball Olympic Winner.

I am very happy to see that in 2011 one of the most popular age group at 3x3 Estonian Streetball Championship was U12 boy. For them the Estonian Basketball Federation is organising the first 3x3 school tournament from November 2011 to March-April 2012. So Estonia is already seeing the potential and perspective of 3x3 future. I believe we're getting ready for the Olympics

I hope that in the next ten years Tallinn will stay as one of the key locations for 3x3 in the world and in Europe. My wish is to see Estonian teams make unbelievable results on an international level.

FIBA