FIBA – Baumann cites growing popularity of 3-on-3

LONDON (FIBA) - No matter what neighborhood, or what city and country, and no matter what time of year, there will always be basketball games.
 
On a playground or in a gym, it may be 5-on-5.
 
But the 3-on-3 version of hoops is what one usually finds in backyards and driveways.
 
It’s been such a popular version of basketball for so long that tournaments have been popping up all over the world for some time.
 
Now, however, it’s going to a different level.
 
It will be one of the main events at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
 
And get this - it’s only going to get bigger!

“3-on-3 will develop,” FIBA Secretary General and I.O.C. member Patrick Baumann said in London this week where he conducted numerous interviews in the build-up to the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
 
“The Youth Olympic Games is the first step.
 
“Then we will have probably have a World Cup and Masters series starting in two years.
 
“Then you create a generation of professional players.”
 
The 3-on-3 game shows why basketball is such a hit at grassroots level.
 
It’s adaptable.
 
When it comes to worldwide popularity in terms of playing numbers, basketball is second only to football.
 
When London, which is buzzing about basketball because the city will host the Olympic Games in 2012, has the world’s best players competing at the O2 Arena, those who are inspired by what they see won’t have any problem getting a game once the final buzzer sounds for each game.
 
There is sure to be 3-on-3 basketball cropping up all over London and,  as usual, the rest of the world.
 
And don’t surprised if an Olympics in the future has both 5-on-5 and 3-on-3 basketball.
 
FIBA