Alberta Basketball's 3x3 legacy

Alberta Basketball has been at the forefront of FIBA's 3x3 movement from the beginning, when ABA executive director Paul Sir first heard of FIBA's interest in making 3x3 a global game and recognized it was going to be big.

In 2010, he attended a conference in Denver, where he saw an opportunity to take the ball and run with it, and learn as much as possible about the game to put Alberta Basketball in a leadership position of 3x3.

The rest is history.

Here's a timeline looking at Alberta Basketball's legacy within the world's number one urban sport.

2007

• FIBA begins an intensified focus on 3x3 basketball, approving it for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

2010 

• 3x3 makes its first appearance on the international stage at the Youth Olympic Game,s, where Canada’s women’s team finishes fourth.
• The FIBA World Congress is presented with a roadmap for the further development of 3x3 basketball, which includes it becoming an Olympic discipline and establishing a worldwide network of competitions.

2011

• FIBA’s Central Board approves the roadmap and plans a test phase over the summer of 2011, during which FIBA will collaborate with a number of 3x3 tournaments, gathering data and feedback.
• Basketball Alberta holds the first FIBA-sanctioned 3x3 tournament in Canada, with more than 50 teams taking part at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.
• FIBA announces a worldwide international competition network to begin in 2012, including the FIBA 3x3 World Cup and FIBA 3x3 World Tour, and qualifying events.

2012

• The second Basketball Alberta 3x3 features Western Canada’s first Canada Quest elite division qualifier for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour, with Team Edmonton (Basketball Alberta alum Jordan Baker, Dom Coward, Joel Friesen, Jarred Ogunbomi) winning.
• Team Edmonton finishes third at the FIBA 3x3 New York City Masters to advance to the 3x3 World Tour Final in Miami, where they place third.

2013

• At the third annual Basketball Alberta 3x3, Team Saskatoon (Troy Gottselig, Mike Lieffers, Michael Linklater, Trevor Nerdahl) wins the Canada Quest division.
• Team Saskatoon places third at the FIBA 3x3 San Juan Masters, to qualify for the FIBA 3x3 Tour Final in Istanbul, Turkey, where they finish sixth.

2014

• Basketball Alberta 3x3 establishes a new benchmark with 116 participating teams, while Team Saskatoon (O’Neil Gordon, Lieffers, Linklater, Willie Murdaugh) successfully defends its Canada Quest title.
• Team Saskatoon becomes the first Canadian squad to win a FIBA 3x3 World Masters Tour event, placing first in Chicago, before posting the best Canadian result at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final, second place, in Sendai, Japan.

2015

• Basketball Alberta 3x3 celebrated its fifth anniversary as Team Saskatoon (Nolan Brudehl Gordon, Lieffers, Linklater) again prevailed in the Canada Quest elite division, earning a trip to the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Mexico City Masters, where they finished third.

2016

• Basketball 3x3 returned for a sixth consecutive year at the Saville Community Sports Centre where Team Saskatoon (Brudehl, Lieffers, Linklater, Gordon) won its straight consecutive Canada Quest title
• Team Saskatoon has a tremendous summer on the FIBA 3x3 World Tour, with three top-three finishes, including top spot at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Lausanne Masters, before wrapping things with 10th-place showing at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final in Abu Dhabi, UAB.

2017

• The inaugural Basketball Alberta 3x3 Alberta Tour is an overwhelming success, with a combined 154 teams taking part at new events in Taber/Barnwell and Calgary, along with the signature event at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
• Team Saskatoon (Brudehl, Lieffers, Linklater, Basketball Alberta alum Steve Sir) captures a historic fifth Canada Quest title in Edmonton, while Team Calgary (Coward, Mike Fischer, Maheer Khan, Jonathan Laybolt) captures the first Canada Quest elite division competition held in Calgary.
• The International Olympic Committee announces 3x3 will be part of the Olympic program beginning with the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. And will include eight female and eight male teams.
• The inaugural Basketball Canada 3x3 Canada Quest National Final is held at West Edmonton Mall, with eight teams from across the country competing for two automatic berths on the FIBA 3x3 World Tour.
• The FIBA 3x3 World Tour Saskatoon Masters, the first Masters event held in Canada, is broadcast internationally and played before overflowing crowds, who cheer on Team Saskatoon to a second-place result.

•  Steve Sir wins the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final Shootout

2018

• Team Saskatoon (Brudehl, Lieffers, Linklater, Sir) is selected to represent Canada in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2018 when the country competes in the World Cup for the first time.

• Team Saskatoon (Alberta Basketball alum Jordan Baker, Lieffers, Linklater, Sir) win the first FIBA 3x3 Challenger event of the year, in Goyang, South Korea.

• Edmonton’s Summer of 3x3 will feature Alberta Basketball 3x3 and the Canada Quest National Final at the Saville Community Sports Centre, while West Edmonton Mall hosts the FIBA 3x3 Edmonton Challenger, the first Challenger contested in Canada.