On Saturday 13th July in the shadow of the Etihad Stadium 32 teams from across the country descended on City Square to battle it out to claim the first ever Basketball England 3x3 title.
Seven purpose built outdoor courts where set up across City square as the stage for 4 men's, 4 women's, 4 U18 boy's, 7 U16 boy's, 9 U 16 Girl's and 4 U14 boys teams to compete for the titles. The day started with tightly contested group stages for all the teams as they all fought for their place in the knock out stage.
3 X 3. 🏀
— Basketball England (@bballengland) July 13, 2019
We are about half way through the group stages of the first ever Basketball England 3x3 City Square event!
RESULTS 🔗 https://t.co/Rf51BgT7wi
GALLERY 🔗https://t.co/NiRsp3CgWC#TogetherWeArebasketbALL pic.twitter.com/Lql3CsZo6e
As the afternoon came the sun was shining in Manchester and the players were already to play hard as they hoped to progress through the knockout stages. As the quarter and semi finals were taking place court 2 was the scene of the 3 point contest as players from all age groups showed off their sharp shooting from beyond the line.
With the teams for the finals decided the stage was set as the bleachers filled out with the knocked out teams and the DJ turned the music up. Each final had all the teams competing hard showing of their talent in the fast paced 3x3 format of the game. The U18 boy's final pitted Charnwood Riders against Geeky Chumps in a game which Riders took the title. The men's final had the Hoodiegans play JUST Ballerz in a game which came down to the last second which saw Hoodiegans take the title in a 7-6 victory. The U16 girls saw a rematch of an earlier group game between AHS and Blazers. The Blazers had the upper hand and won it comfortably 11-5. The U16 boys final had Magic win in a 1 point against White men cant jump (9-8).
The U14 boys final had the Trailblazers take on C-Flight in hard though game which had Derby take home the trophy. The women's final saw Leicester Riders take on Golden Phoenix in a game which was won by the Riders 9-4.
This event allowed everyone to show off their 3x3 talent as we approach Tokyo 2020 the first Olympics with 3x3 as an event. This event with ones to follow will help grow this exciting format of the game.
