Youngsters face tournament test

JUNIOR teams are busy preparing for the Queensland under-12 and under-14 boys and girls championships over the school holidays.

Gold Coast teams are ready for the end of the representative calendar which peaks with up to five days of competition.

It is interesting that these are the only tournaments these athletes play each year because it takes the body some conditioning to play consecutive days of high-intensity competition.

Northern Queensland teams are well prepared for such an event because they have to play similar events due to the amount of distance they must travel to get regular competition.

This puts the teams in the North at an advantage because they already have conditioning for this style.

Gold Coast teams will be well served to pick up their training sessions to include getting used to playing games early in the morning.

THERE’S been a few 3 on 3 competitions recently on the Gold Coast.

The inaugural Varsity 3 on 3 was held last Sunday with more than 30 teams involved.

Culture Kings also held an event two weeks ago at Pacific Fair.

FIBA is pushing the 3 on 3 concept hard to all countries and Basketball Australia has been looking to get some structure to the concept and roll it out to the states.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will include 3 on 3 competition and it should be fascinating to watch.

Hopefully there will be some streetball legends come through the program.

It’s a shame that most of the top players will be competing in the traditional 5 on 5 form, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some old greats or up-andcomers stepping in to play.

THE Gold Coast Rollers kick off a testing Queensland Basketball League road trip with games against Rockhampton at Hegvold Stadium tonight.

The Rollers head to Mackay tomorrow for the second leg of their road trip, while the North Gold Coast Seahawks take on the Brisbane Capitals at Auchenflower.