Paris Games 2024: ‘It’s pretty crazy’: The basketballers fighting for the future of the sport

Australia’s 3x3 players and coach are fighting for the future of their sport and for funding from Basketball Australia despite marching towards a medal that once seemed out of reach in Paris.

Australia’s 3x3 basketball team are on a mission for better funding and profile for “the future of the sport” as they continued their impressive march through the Paris tournament at the Concorde Urban Park.

Australia peeled off its fourth consecutive victory of the tournament with a stunning 21-10 victory over Azerbaijan but must beat Spain later today and then France tomorrow to guarantee a top-two spot.

It would put Australia straight through to the medal rounds, but a loss against France could put them in a knockout contest between teams ranked 3-6 for the remaining two semi-final berths only after that clash against the local hopes.

Australia’s sublime shooting and physical defence close to the rim were the perfect combination as Marena Whittle hit a trio of long-range two-point shots then dominated the boards and her Azerbaijan opponents.

Alex Wilson used her rangy build to dominate, while point guard Lauren Mansfield’s silky dribbling created space for her to repeatedly get to the rim unopposed.

Australia’s low world ranking given a lack of tournaments would be a tie-breaker in their pool if they were locked on wins and total points with a rival, so the capacity to boost that ranking through tournament play is crucial.

Can Australia win a medal in Paris? Picture: AFP

Australia’s four players all take part in the WNBL or international competition but are starved of funding and international experience as well-drilled units like Canada play up to 15 tournaments a year across the world.

The players have revealed the often met each other at the airport ahead of their handful of international tournaments.

Instead of a full-time training schedule or extensive training camps they have to revert to 3x3 mode within days after playing normal basketball with their WNBL teams.

The team won silver in the 2022 3x3 world cup and bronze at the 2023 3x3 world cup so believe an Olympic medal would be a massive fillip for the sport’s profile.

As point guard Lauren Mansfield said: “It’s pretty crazy. We don’t really get much practice”.

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“We all play separately in different states and then we meet at the tournament and we are off. So it’s pretty crazy that way but it’s been cool in this lead up. We had a Melbourne tournament and then we played in a women’s series in Azerbaijan. We play two or three tournaments a year if we are lucky.

“Leading into this tournament we haven’t had a lot of funding and we have had to just play in tournaments randomly. It would be really cool to get some extra support. That is what we are fighting for, the future of the sport and we are trying to medal and trying to really pave the way for the next generation to come through.”

Whittle said of the profile this tournament provides: “Momentum is building for us here on the court but also back home, which is the biggest picture of it all. We have been playing 3x3 for a long time in Australia but this is program building, the future pathways for the kids who don’t know if they fit in 5x5. I wish I knew about this when I was younger. We are trying to build something special here, not just for us but for the future of 3x3.”

The future of the sport in Australia is relying on funding. Picture: Getty Images

Coach Damon Lowery feels this team is capable of greatness and also believes the urban streetball version of basketball can be a first-choice option for female basketballers.

“Canada’s a powerhouse. Now, if we played enough on those circuits, we would be ranked high too, because we are that good. But because we’re so isolated, we always come to tournaments ranked low

“But everybody who knows it knows that we’re serious. And that’s hard, because it’s almost like we came out of nowhere. BA wasn’t prepared for this. In the budget, it’s Opal budget. There’s Boomers money, there’s the wheelchair basketball money, and it’s like 3x3… sorry.

We will eventually get some but in the meantime we are missing 15 tournaments a year.

“We have a four-day camp, and these other countries have been playing for seven months. It’s hard. Because we have had to learn how to play on the fly.”

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Originally published as Paris Games 2024: ‘It’s pretty crazy’: The basketballers fighting for the future of the sport