Finding a way to basket: Effective spacing options in 3x3 basketball

Abstract

3x3 Basketball, a relatively new sport, has traditionally been viewed as a small sided game for 5x5 basketball. Created in 2010 and in 2017 made its way to an Olympic program, 3x3 basket-ball is still a unique and relative unknown sport. Despite its increasing popularity, there is still a lack of thorough research on 3x3 basketball, which has led to the emergence of this thesis topic. There are numerous unexplored areas within the realm of 3x3 basketball that are crucial for its ongoing development as a sport. The topic for this thesis was created to aid a Masters Programme thesis (Haaga-Helia Liikunta-alan koulutus, liikunnanohjaaja YAMK), due to a fact that 3x3 basketball is a new sport and there has not been so many research done this thesis works as an analysis tool to create educational materials for 3x3 basketball coaching. The theoretical background of this work has focused on investigating the unique aspects of the sport, such as its rules and equipment, as well as the technical and physical requirements at various levels of the game. Clarifying the terminology and player roles has been crucial in helping the reader understand the research better. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the spacing options from the FIBA 3x3 World Tour 2022 final tournament and their effectiveness using video and statistics from the tournament games as a tool. Three of the best teams were chosen as target groups and five different spacing options were selected for this study. From those spacings the findings indicate that most effective spacing is Pusher, Shoulder, Corner but it was not the most used one and one of the target groups did not use this spacing even once. Most used spacing was Pusher, 45, Shoulder. Research findings align well with the statistics when compared, providing clear data with what spacings were the most effective for each team but in general as well.