Wisconsin-Dells-based company Top3 Promotions will include the Racine-Kenosha area, among ten cities, in the first round of a planned regional 3-on-3 basketball tournament, according to promotions founder – and former J. I. Case High School student – John Atkinson.
Atkinson said he’s long promoted 3-on-3 basketball in one-off charity tournaments and other community-related events.
“I wanted to take the basketball world and add a new dynamic to it,” he said.
Typical prizes for a charity event might involve a tee shirt or a trophy, Atkinson said.
“I wanted to take that and make it better,” he said.
The game of 3-on-3 basketball – sometimes known as “21” – is a half-court version of the game that requires players to retreat beyond the three-point line to reset the possession arrow before each team can make an offensive push. The first team to score 21 points wins the game, according to the rules posted on Top3’s website.
3-on-3 Basketball Tournament Bracket and Prizes
The 3-on-3 basketball tournament – Atkinson calls it a season – would start with a double-elimination bracket for teams in the Racine-Kenosha area, as well as each of the nine other cities in the state. The winner and runner-up for each city would advance to a double-elimination 20-team state bracket. The winners of that bracket would move to a national tournament, which so far has eligible cities in 25 states, according to Atkinson.
Other cities include Madison, Wausau, Ripon and Superior.
City winners and runners-up would receive custom basketball jerseys and $1,000 and $500 cash, respectively. The top three finishers in the state tournament would take home $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000, according to Atkinson.
“I want to cover the entire state, and I want to find the best teams in each state,” he said.
About John Atkinson
Atkinson played ball in high school but transferred from Case to Royall High School in Elroy midway through high school.
“The coaches up here didn’t like how I played basketball, so I sat on the bench a lot,” he said.
After graduating high school, he played ball for the U.S. Army in Germany and started for ten years. He was moved to launch the season after years of organizing non-profit events out of enthusiasm for sports and health.
“The reason it kind of started, I wanted to make things better,” he said. “I wanted to see people get out and be active. If I can get people out and doing something like this, maybe they’ll join a gym.”
Registration for the tournament is $300 per team. Registration is available online at www.top3promotions.com or on the company’s Facebook page.
The Racine-Kenosha tournament is slated to kick off on Aug. 7 at the Pleasant Prairie Rec-Plex. The registration deadline for the 3-on-3 basketball tournament is a week before the tournament starts.
