The arenas of Alès will welcome orange ball lovers on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 June.
The arenas of Alès will, for a weekend, welcome orange ball lovers. On June 25 and 26, the Open Plus takes place Junior League U18 basketball 3 against 3. Organized by Entente Alès BC-JSA, this is the first tournament of its kind for the club. “Every year, we organized our 5 against 5 tournament, declares Gérard Martin, president of the ABC-JSA. But we haven’t done it for several years because the clubs no longer want to travel. So we thought why not get into it.“
A fashionable discipline
At the start, several places were mentioned, such as the Place des Martyrs-de-la-Résistance or the Place de l’hôtel de ville. Finally, the Tempéras arenas were selected, in particular, for their extraordinary setting.
Initiated for the first time at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, the discipline is attracting and developing internationally, also in France. This weekend, 12 women’s teams and 12 men’s teams will compete in the under-18 category, previously qualified in the departmental tournaments. Saturday will be the women’s tournament, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday, the boys have their edition, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“An event that shines on a national scale”
The tournament is a qualifier for the French championships, which will take place in Voiron, following the various Opens. Tournaments where the matches are tight and physically intense, with both individual and collective prowess. “We are very happy to host this event which shines on a national scale, continues Gerard Martin. Organizing such a tournament, in addition to the arenas, is also to highlight the city of Alès.”
Throughout the weekend, a speaker and a DJ will host the tournament, to the delight of the spectators.
The rules in a nutshell
The 3 against 3 is different from basketball by its principle of play and its rules. The match is played on half court only and with a size 6 ball for all categories. The regulation time is 10 min, and when a point is scored, the opposing team must bring the ball out outside the three-point line to be able to attack again. A team is said to be at fault when it obtains 6 collective faults, one more than in the traditional 5 against 5.
