Bradley is hosting a 3-on-3 youth basketball tournament. Here's how you can sign up

PEORIA — Brian Wardle wants to share some of his old-school basketball roots with kids in the Peoria area.

So the coach of the Bradley Braves is hosting a pair of 3-on-3 tournaments inside Renaissance Coliseum on the Bradley University campus on Sunday (July 28) and Sunday (Aug. 4).

"My whole staff are all former 3-on-3 players," Wardle said. "We all grew up that way. I learned how to play basketball in the park playing 3-on-3, 2-on-2. I played in Hoops for Life 3 on 3 tournaments and the Gus Macker .

"So we thought, let's bring a 3-on-3 to Renaissance. No coaches. Just kids having fun."

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The Bradley 3 on 3 Tournament will be staged as two separate events on consecutive Sundays. Boys and girls who will enter third through eighth grades in the 2024-25 school year are eligible to play. The one-day tournaments run 1-6 p.m. on both Sundays and each team is guaranteed three games.

Teams can sign up for one or both events. There are already 28 teams registered for the first tourney this Sunday. Deadline to enter that tournament is midnight Thursday. The second tournament on Aug. 4 — same age ranges apply — will have a midnight Aug. 1 entry deadline. Cost is $100 per team, and you can register online via Wardle's camp site .

Questions can be directed to Pat Althoff, the Bradley special assistant to the head coach, via email at palthoff@fsmail.bradley.edu.

"The 3-on-3 game has become an Olympic sport, and it's on its way back," Wardle said. "When we sat down to talk about it, we looked at the whole landscape and said, 'Let's do this.' Back when we played 3-on-3 we were outside in the heat playing on concrete. Now we can offer kids a beautiful indoor facility with air conditioning."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

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