Hoops Capital will be front and centre when one of the nation’s biggest streetball tournaments, the Melbourne Summer Jam, tips off on Friday.
The 3×3 Hoops Capital team is the defending champion of the tournament which is celebrating its 10th year after being cancelled due to COVID last year.
Captained by Victorian hooper Liam McInerney, the team approached Kings and Flames owner and chairman Paul Smith about sponsoring the side under the Hoops Capital brand before the 2020 Melbourne Summer Jam they eventually won and the rest is history.
More recently the Hoops Capital side was the national champions in the 3×3 Hustle in Ballarat.
The team that McInerney captained in Ballarat was composed of players who won’t be with the team in the coming Summer Jam. Due to availability the roster changes frequently.
But he recruited a good team under his banner and won the tournament “it was a good bit of branding” McInerney described it.
“And it worked, people have recognised (Hoops Capital) and people are now talking about us coming into the tournament. Especially as reigning champions, it gives us some momentum.”
The Hoops Capital team going into the 2022 Summer Jam will include some big names like Dain Swetalla, who averaged 16 points per game in the NBL1 South and Lachlan Barker, who recently signed with the S.E. Melbourne Phoenix.
There are some significant rivalries in the Summer Jam, especially with Brother Wolf (who have won four of the past five tournaments) and the Hoops Capital team.
“It’s something all the teams engage in, there is plenty of banter in the group chat,” McInerney said.
“It’s fun to represent Sydney and build the brand how Paul Smith wants it to grow it through this team.”
A big part of the Hoops Capital branding is representing both men’s and women’s basketball, this is something that McInerney has been actively trying to implement by adding a 3×3 women’s team.
“It’s started by just recruiting,” he said.
“It’s another step forward for the Hoops Capital brand to fully represent Sydney.
“We’ve been recruiting girls out of Melbourne mostly. But we are currently looking very strong and we have all past WNBL players, on paper we look like a contender.”
The next step for 3×3 basketball is the Olympics, it was introduced in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Opals team which included the Flames’ forward Keely Froling fell short in the qualifiers due to a very short preparation period.
The evolution of 3×3 will be building players up to play both 5×5 basketball and 3×3 to represent Australia on the international stage in both forms of basketball.
“As a lover of 3×3 myself, it’s fast-paced it is different from normal basketball,” McInerney said.
“It increases your fitness and builds on your versatility as a player. It builds toughness and I think it’s a great way to play basketball.”
To stay up to date with the Summer Jam which starts this Friday, follow the page on Instagram (@summerjamau) and follow the Hoops Capital team on their pages as well.