Taber 3-on-3 basketball tourney continues to grow

Greg Price
Taber Times
gprice@tabertimes.com

March Madness may be over, but for those who still want to get their fill of hardcourt happenings in basketball, the Barnwell School parent council has something for you.

Taber 3-on-3 Hardwood Hoedown goes this Saturday, as interest in the tournament continues to be rekindled with an increased number of entries.

Monday was the last day registrations were being accepted, but there will be plenty of teams featured at the Hoedown.

“It’s amazing how people sneak teams in at the last minute or are calling me frantically, saying ‘Hey I have three teams, don’t close it (registration) yet,” said Aaron Edlund, a co-organizer of the Taber 3-on-3 Hardwood Hoedown. “We have teams from all over (southern Alberta). We ended up with just under 60 teams, which I think is the biggest we’ve ever had.”

Those nearly 60 teams will be made up of Grade 4-5, Grade 6-7, Grade 8-9, high school and open divisions.

“This year we have 14 open men’s teams. it’s by far our largest category, the open men’s division. There should be some decent basketball there,” said Edlund.

“It was too much for just one or two people to do which is what it used to be like (causing it to cease for awhile). I have 18 different people who have volunteered to be court monitors because we have six courts going and dividing the day into thirds which is what I figured you needed, that many people to make it happen. To have it last as long as it did with whoever was running it at Myers before was commendable because I know first hand how much work it takes to make it happen.”

The 3-on-3 basketball tournament runs this Saturday starting at 9 a.m., with games going until 6:30 p.m. at W.R. Myers and D.A. Ferguson gymnasiums.

The tournament was held outside for a while until switching to an indoor venue last year.

“Previous years when we had it outside, we’d push it to June to guarantee the weather would be good. But going inside, we pushed it to April because the club basketball scene is so big now,” said Edlund. “In June, everyone is playing club basketball and there’s no weekend available where we can get the most players. Moving it inside, it makes it so much easier for planning knowing you are not going to have that uncontrollable variable in Mother Nature. So of the feedback we got from people previously is they’d prefer to play it inside. I think that’s crazy personally, but we want to try and make this as big of a fundraiser as possible for Barnwell School, so you have to give what people want.”

There will be basketball featured of all skill levels as the Barnwell parent council is encouraging participation and fun for the event as highlighted by the tournament’s home page… ‘Taber 3-on-3 is a place for players of all ages and abilities to come together in pursuit of the ultimate goal: to become a Taber 3-on-3 Champion. It’s where friends and families gather and cheer at the top of their lungs for their favourite team. It’s the chance to see a college superstar, or your dad, hustle like he’s in the final game of the NBA finals. It’s a place for your nine-year-old to score their first basket.’