Experience, funding scuttle Jamaica’s 3x3 basketball Olympic bid
Published:Thursday | May 2, 2024 | 12:11 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
JAMAICA’S SENIOR men’s national basketball coach, Rick Turner, is blaming inexperience for missing the opportunity to have the country’s 3x3 team represented at the Paris Olympics later this year.
The team just failed to take advantage of any of the three paths to grab a spot among the eight-team Olympic field.
“Anytime you have the chance to compete, you would want to compete at the highest level. I wouldn’t use the word disappointment because coming from where we came from to secure one of those coveted spots at the Olympics would have been a heavy lift for us,” said Turner.
The Jamaicans’ first opportunity would have been to become one of the top three teams in the Americas region by November of 2023.
That was unlikely so the Jamaicans turned to playing in Universality-driven Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (UOQT). There were two the Jamaicans didn’t participate in where only the winners would make the Olympics before taking on the AmeriCup, from which three teams would be admitted.
“The fact is that we started to compete in 3x3 in 2021 and we jumped right into the fire, playing in the AmeriCup competition and we played great as we made it to the quarterfinals in our first attempt at 3x3,” said Turner.
The veteran basketball coach, who has been at the helm since January 2019, explained that ‘funding’ was the biggest stumbling block for the national team. He added that, based on his calculations, a solid basketball programme wouldn’t cost the federation an arm and a leg.
“The only thing holding back Jamaica in 3x3 and 5x5 playing at the highest level around the world is funding. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be the thing that’s holding us back because we don’t need that much. My estimation is that we could have a healthy national programme for as little as US$150,000 per year. That’s nothing. It’s spit in the ocean,” said Turner.
Turner believes he has some of the best Jamaican talent at his disposal and that they can rub shoulders with the best playing countries in the world in 3x3.
“We can compete with the USAs of the world as we showed it a couple months ago in Puerto Rico. We’re as every bit as good as them and have the talent to compete at the highest level. We were hoping to play 5x5 this summer but FIBA (International Basketball Federation) couldn’t find a host country for the tournament, so it’s really up in the air as to when our next 5x5 tournament would be.”