3x3 - Urban Hoops Tour rising in Austria

STEYR (3x3) - The 2012 Urban Hoops Tour edition will be played in five different cities spread out into three provinces throughout Austria. It has become one of the major 3x3 tournaments in the country but it wasn't always so.

The co-organiser Stefan Grieb started playing 3x3 tournaments in 1995, he didn't like the competition formats at the time saying that "you would play two games against stronger teams and so you couldn't qualify for the next round".

He went out on a mission to start organising his own 3x3 tournaments in his home town of Steyr in the province of Oberösterreich.  The initial event name was "Resthofer Basketball Event"; he made sure that every team played a minimum of six games.

The first two editions in 1999 and 2000 were very small, attracting only eight teams. In 2001 the event got a major push, gathering many players and teams from the neighbouring city of Linz.

From then on the event would even have players from the Austrian league and junior players from the national team come over and play. With every year the level and value of the tournaments kept on growing, enticing more and more players to play this new sport.

"The quality of the games were very high in the competition", Stefan said.

In 2010 with the help of his friend who owns a basketball store under the name of "Urban Hoops", they decided to merge together and expand. This year the tournament took place in the three biggest cities of Upper Austria which are Linz, Wels and Steyr.

The success was immediate, with a total of 54 teams, over 200 participants and even players from the nearby Czech Republic; they knew that they were on to something big. 

To obtain even more attention for next years' edition they have high hopes to be affiliated to the Austrian Basketball Federation. For "Urban Hoops Tour" the sky is the limit.

Visit the event website here.

FIBA