‘That one moment has so much impact’

• Ronald van Dam

  editor and commentator NOS Sport

A basketball club from The Hague with five hundred people on the waiting list, neglected basketball courts that are being renovated and Worthy de Jong as a celebrity in talk shows and game programs.

A lot has changed for basketball in the two months since the spectacular gold medal for the men’s 3×3 at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Tomorrow and Sunday the Gashouder in Amsterdam will be the setting for the FIBA ​​3×3 World Tour Masters Amsterdam. A two-day tournament, where the four Olympic champions will compete in front of their own audience for the first time since Paris. De Jong, Arvin Slagter and Jan Driessen at Team Amsterdam, Dimeo van der Horst at Team Utrecht.

“We have already sold two and a half times as many tickets as last year,” notes former international and 3×3 pioneer Jesper Jobse, who is organizing the event with his 3×3 Unites foundation. “It’s almost sold out. Everyone wants to see Worthy and those other guys in action up close.”

Basketball has been growing in the Netherlands in recent years. But De Jong’s historic golden shot in Paris has put the sport, traditionally practiced in the 5×5 format, completely on the map. Especially 3×3 basketball, which was still unknown to many before Paris.

“I notice that others are now using my words,” says Martin Ho Suie Sang, basketball ball development coordinator at the Dutch Basketball Association (NBB). “Fast, dynamic and spectacular, that’s how I introduced 3×3 for years in conversations with municipalities, NOC*NSF or other possible partners. My words have landed. That one moment has so much impact…”

Doors have been opening more quickly for Ho Suie Sang and his colleagues since then. “You no longer have to explain what 3×3 is. The final had a reach of more than four million viewers on TV. When I enter somewhere, people start talking about how cool they think 3×3 is. The mindset has changed. That might be the biggest gain.”

A lot has happened in the last few months. New cities are registering for the 3x3NL Tour, the NBB’s square basketball tour. The association’s indoor tour during the winter period is growing rapidly, now from 60 to 85 participating teams.

Other associations and countries are seeking cooperation with the NBB. Schools are asking for a special 3×3 school competition. Associations contact municipalities to renovate old basketball courts or build new ones.

It goes fast, sometimes too fast. Ho Suie Sang: “I spoke to the chairman of a club from The Hague. They have grown to three hundred members and have another five hundred people on the waiting list, because there is insufficient room space.”

As organizer of the World Tour Masters in Amsterdam, Jobse also experiences the positive influence of the 3×3 gold, and not only on ticket sales. “Sponsor and partners who had doubts in the past are now saying yes.”

“We also notice it at our foundation, with which we use 3×3 basketball socially. Due to all the media attention, we receive more requests for our programs in neighborhoods and clinics in schools. That is the new reality. But it is our joint responsibility to ensure the success of Paris,” Jobse said.

A lot has also changed for Slagter. He describes the past period as one rollercoaster. Especially in the first few weeks, when the four Olympic heroes went from sleep-deprived to celebration and celebration, but a European championship had to be played quickly.

“You are working on your dream and they also have to suffer from that at home,” says Slagter, referring to his wife and 4-year-old daughter. “I find it difficult to find the balance.”

Secretly, Slagter is happy that he is not Worthy de Jong. “He is our poster boy, appears in talk shows and as a jury member in TV programs. Flag bearer, his extroverted personality, the shot that is still on everyone’s mind; that is a cocktail for the status of a famous Dutchman. If I were him , it would be even more difficult to find that balance.”

Slagter stood on the steps with the royal couple and was knighted, but what he thought was most special was the invitation the four men received to play against the winner of BIG3, the American equivalent of 3×3, for 150,000 dollars.

“That could have been very lucrative,” laughs Slagter. “But that was not possible due to our contract with the international association FIBA. Recently a Russian friend of my mother said: ‘Arvin can certainly stop working after that gold?’ Well, I can quit basketball, but not work yet.”