New Zealand has been on the podium each time basketball has featured at the Commonwealth Games and a group of young men and women are chasing more medals in England this month.
Dom Kelman-Poto is having success in 3x3 basketball. Photo: Marty Melville
Basketball has been on the Games programme twice before, in Melbourne 2006 and Gold Goast 2018, but the three-a-side game will be played for the first time in Birmingham.
New Zealand did not have a side at the Olympics last year where 3x3 was also included on the schedule for the first time but those behind the shortened format in New Zealand are targeting a top three finish at the Commonwealth Games.
Played on half a court with just one hoop for both teams to attack, 3x3 basketball is fast-paced and physical.
It is the perfect fit for a forward like Dom Kelman-Poto.
With only 12 seconds on the shot clock, Kelman-Poto says the game suits his style.
"I like that you can be a little bit more physical, I'm a physical guy and they don't call as many fouls and the game is really quick so for a big guy like me the quicker the game the easier the game is."
Joining Kelman-Poto in the men's team for the Commonwealth Games is Richie Rodger, Jayden Bezzant and Tai Wynyard.
Rodger was a late replacement for Nikau McCullough who was unable to travel after testing positive for Covid-19.
The women's team for the historic occasion is Tiarna Clarke, Ella Fotu, Jillian Harmon, and Kalani Purcell.
Olympian and Tall Fern Jillian Harmon Photo: Photosport
Experienced Tall Fern Mary Goulding is taking a shot at diversifying her game while she still can and had hoped to be in Birmingham.
Goulding has played at college level in the US and professionally in Europe and Australia and attended the 3x3 Asia Cup in July but has never been to the Commonwealth Games.
She watched the Tall Ferns win medals at the 2006 and 2018 Games and wanted to add to that legacy.
The 25-year-old can see how the switch to 3x3 for the Games could rile the tradtionalists.
"[For] people that are specifically five-on-five it's upsetting or even a little bit of a shame because you want to stick with the usual five-on-five and there's some beauty to the game and I do love five-on-five but three-on-three has its perks. It's a little bit more audience friendly as much as it hurts me to say that, I think that's the truth," Goulding says.
Goulding says there is potential for the five-a-side game to lose some players as 3x3 grows.
"In the future it might have to be a choice between three-on-three and five-on-five, you won't be able to play both. That will be a decision and probably a tough one for a lot of people, ones that are good at both."
New Zealand men's coach, Piet van Hasselt, believes the focus on 3x3 by basketball's governing body FIBA works in New Zealand's favour.
"Lativa won the Olympics, which is 2 million people, and so I view us as having pefect physical bodies for 3x3 and also a really good mental approach," van Hasselt says.
The men finished second at the Asia Cup in Singapore this month, behind Australia, which is the team they will meet in their second game in Birmingham.
The Tall Blacks 3x3 will also play England, Trinidad and Tobago in group play at the Games.
The women's coach Justine Reed says the abundance of international 3x3 basketball this year, with the Commonwealth Games following both a World Cup and Asia Cup, will help remove some of the mystery around the game.
The five-a-side Tall Ferns are outside medal hopes at world tournaments, whereas Reed says the 3x3 side should be on the podium.
"3x3 evens the playing field because you only need four players and so in terms of our player base I think we can find four players that can compete at a world level," Reed says.
Tai Wynyard, Sam Timmins, Nikau McCullough and Matt Freeman, the winning New Zealand men's team from the FIBA U18 World 3x3 Basketball Championship. Photo: William Booth
The Tall Ferns and Tall Blacks will be showing off their skills from the jump when the 3x3 basketball starts on the opening day of competiton in Birmingham.
And they will quickly find out how they fare.
The first team to 21 points wins - if no team has reached that milestone after 10 minutes, the team in the lead claims the victory.
