Mount Gambier will host a 3×3 basketball competition on Sunday.

KT Hoops, run by Mount Gambier Pioneers player Kyle Tipene, will run round 4 of the South West 3×3 series at the Active8 centre.

Local teams will compete against those coming from Victoria, including Hamilton and Warrnambool.

Tipene said the new generation of basketball had started in Mount Gambier in January.

“I have been coaching with some kids privately for a while now, so I have been open since January and it was a bit of a dream to open my own court,” Tipene said.

“Luckily, my sister runs Active8 gym and there was a vacant space there, so I joked around one

day about putting a court here and now it has come true, which is pretty cool.”

Tipene said the new sport had been embraced by basketballers and other sportspeople.

“It is going ahead in leaps and bounds and really going well,” he said.

“I think I played with a few of the guys in our first tournament last year in Hamilton and we did not know what it was about.

“We actually won that tournament and now I have just been opening it up casually for guys to come in and play.

“The numbers have been high, in the last few weeks I have had 15 or 16 guys come through to play.”

Tipene said the 3×3 action helped him to retain his skill level during the Pioneers offseason.

“We have got some great talent here and it is high level, I think the guys in the off season, especially footy, want to keep fit and play something competitive,” he said.

“It definitely helps with your skills, it’s fast paced, you have got to shoot the ball a lot and this transfers in to a 5×5 game so a lot of guys love it.”