Basketball: Shortfall keeps game inside

The city's best young hoopers will have to play their competitive ball inside the confines of gymnasiums for the foreseeable future. Photo/File.

A funding shortage has dashed hopes that Tauranga will get specialist courts for the rapidly emerging world sport of 3 on 3 basketball.

The Tauranga City Basketball Association has been unable to raise the $40,000 needed to lay the courts for the popular outdoor version of the full-court game.

Association spokesman Mark Rogers said that while there were six city parks with hoops, none were suitable for 3 on 3 basketball because the sport needed a half-sized court.

He said the association had permission to create decent sized concrete pads at the six locations but neither the council nor the association could afford the $40,000 cost.

It meant they were looking at other options for the summer sport, including the Blake Park netball courts at Mount Maunganui.

In the meantime, 3 on 3 basketball continued to be played mainly indoors in city stadiums despite it being an outdoor sport. Some tournaments have been played on temporary courts in city carparks.

The Tauranga downtown's waterfront carpark has been pencilled in for the February 8 round of Basketball New Zealand's national circuit next summer.

Three-on-three basketball was a modified version of the full-court game involving teams of three players on a half-sized court, with one hoop and backboard. It catered for the younger demographic that generally abstained from organised sport.

Mr Rogers said that with more than 250 million players worldwide, 3 on 3 was a key driver for the growth of basketball.

Labelled the "hottest ticket in town" at the 2010 Youth Olympics, it was being touted as a demonstration sport for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.