While about half the teams taking to the streets this weekend for Hoopfest call somewhere in the Inland Northwest home, a few are flying in from halfway around the globe to partake in the world's largest three-on-three basketball tournament, now in its 33rd year.
With participation from eight countries around the world this year, Hoopfest 2024 has doubled in international appeal from previous years, according to Executive Director Riley Stockton.
"It's a combination of us putting together a pretty good product that people want to be a part of and teams that want to come and enjoy a different brand of basketball," Stockton says. "We definitely want to have an international presence, and by our social media and newsletters, we try to market nationally and internationally."
While countries like Canada and France have competed in past Hoopfests — with one French team reaching the semifinals in the over-6-foot elite division — an Italian team's participation this year is thanks to a collaboration with Spokane's famous basketball school, Gonzaga University. The connection was forged between students in Gonzaga's kinesiology and sport management program and 11 youth players from Pistoia, Italy. The latter will test their skill on the courts of downtown Spokane among more than 24,000 other players this weekend, June 29 and 30.
Italy's Pistoia Basket 2000 team has a prestigious history, counting both famous Italian and U.S. players' names on its roster such as Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, father of the late Kobe. The younger Bryant started out in Pistoia Basket's youth system before moving to Philadelphia as a teenager.
Pistoia Basket 2000 is the only basketball team in all of Tuscany competing in Lega Basket Serie A, the highest of nine levels in Italy's professional basketball league system. The team's Hoopfest roster is made up of seven male and four female players between 14 and 16 years old.
The Italian players will form three teams to play in the tournament's high school division: a girls team, a recreational boys team and an elite boys team.
Gonzaga's partnership with Pistoia was born in June 2023, when a group of sports management students were studying abroad at the university's campus in Florence, Italy. After a meeting with the students, the Italian team's curiosity about American basketball was piqued.
"They wanted more, and they were coming back. They are curious about the international market and would like to get the American audience interested in Italian basketball," says Ryan Turcott, an associate professor of sports management at Gonzaga.
Excitement about the Italian team's participation in Hoopfest is not coming solely from Gonzaga — there's been a lot of media buzz in Italy, too.
"This collaboration has aroused a lot of interest in our club," says Cristiano Biagini, the youth team manager of Pistoia Basket 2000.
"The mayor and the president of the basketball league said they were curious and honored by this initiative. For us, coaches and athletes, just participating and experiencing the 3-against-3 tournament is an advantage," Biagini says.
After cheering on the Italian players in downtown Spokane this weekend, Gonzaga students plan to continue a remote internship with the team. Part of that work involves curating a strategic marketing plan for Pistoia Basket, including designing new jerseys, creating promotional videos and organizing press conferences.
Turcott says the study abroad program for sports management students has also focused on developing intercultural competencies and conflict management skills, which are essential for working in an international sports environment.
These experiences may encourage students to pursue a variety of career paths, including athletic direction, public relations, scouting, sports journalism and much more. The partnership also deepens students' understanding of how sports as a universal language can be a diplomatic tool.
"We do this by doing a lot of field trips and meetings with sport industry leaders in Italy or wherever we are studying," Turcott says.
After Hoopfest, what's next for the students? The Olympics. "I leave for France [this] week to start a Gonzaga study abroad class at the Paris Olympics," Turcott adds.♦
