Saskatoon hoops squad wearing Team Canada colours this summer
Three-on-three outfit working toward goal of representing country at Olympics
As the Winter Olympics zipped along, Michael Linklater got to thinking about the Summer Olympics.
The Saskatoon hoops player, who become a Games hopeful after three-on-three basketball was officially named an Olympic sport last year, has rings in his sights.
“(The Winter Olympics) was motivation,” says Linklater, whose squad — which includes Michael Lieffers, Nolan Brudehl and Steve Sir — was formally named Team Canada on Friday.
“Being able to visualize those medals and those athletes competing at that level, walking in for the opening ceremonies and seeing the closing ceremonies ... that definitely does provide inspiration.”
The four-man squad is preparing for a full summer that includes at least five FIBA 3x3 World Tour stops, more if they can get the sponsorships. They’re trying to get Canada into next year’s FIBA Olympic trials.
Linklater’s team has played on the world circuit for several years now, and he says they accumulate more than 70 per cent of Canada’s ranking points. He’d love to see more Canadian three-on-three teams venturing out, but there aren’t a lot so far — though word is spreading, given that it’s now an Olympic sport.
“It’s given me more motivation to continue pushing, and to continue working towards that possibility,” says Linklater, who like Lieffers and Brudehl, is a former member of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
“That dream as a child, to represent my country for an Olympic medal, I never thought three-onthree. I thought five-on-five. But for this opportunity to now become a reality ... we’re so close to making this a reality, and it really pushes me.”
The freshly minted Team Canada will play at Saskatoon’s World Tour stop on July 21-22. It’s the only North American event on the Tour, and ran for the first time last summer. Linklater’s team lost the final 21-14 to a squad from Slovenia. That was their best finish on the season; they placed fifth in Prague, ninth in Lausanne and 12th at the FIBA finals in Beijing.
They played that Saskatoon event in front of large crowds, with plenty of hoopla, and Linklater says it made people aware that the sport has blossomed in recent years.
“I don’t think (people) recognized the magnitude of the event,” Linklater said. “A lot of people thought it was just going to be a little small-stream tournament, on kind of a little shady hoop, which most three-on-three tournaments that are outdoors are. But FIBA has done a tremendous job in making this a global game, and a fan experience.”
The Saskatoon event is in the second year of a three-year hosting agreement.
Twelve teams will compete in the two-day downtown tournament, and there will also be dunk and shootout contests, live entertainment, and an amateur tourney on adjacent courts.
The Saskatoon stop will kick off a travel-heavy summer for the team, as they work to boost their ranking in the run-up to Olympic qualification.
“This is where we picked up the basketball,” Linklater said of playing in Saskatoon. “To be able to start this Olympic journey, or to continue it here at home with the support of our family and our friends ... when we were playing on the court, it was like we had an extra player on the court, because of the extra support we had from the fans, and how loud it was. The atmosphere was really something special.”
That dream as a child, to represent my country for an Olympic medal, I never thought three-on-three. I thought five-on-five.