Linklater and pals second in the world
- EFN Staff | November 02, 2014
First Nations basketball player Michael Linklater has returned home from the FIBA 3 on 3 World Tour Basketball Championships in Japan, but the trip didn’t turn out exactly how he was hoping it would. Losing out on the $20,000 top prize in the finals to Serbia, Linklater says although his team of 4 fell short in the final game, it was a truly humbling experience. “It was a lot of fun and it was good to experience the culture, it’s a lot different there from here.”
Linklater teamed up with Michael Lieffers, O’neil Gordon and Willie Murdaugh to represent Canada as Team Saskatoon at the weekend tournament that featured some of the best amateur and professional basketball players from around the world. On opening day, Team Saskatoon played and came out victorious against teams from Slovania and Japan, advancing to the quarter finals.
On day two of action, Linklater and his team beat out Team Denver USA 21 – 3 advancing on to play Team Bucharest in the semi-finals in a close game ending 19 – 16 for Saskatoon. As one of the smallest players on the court, the father of 5 opened the scoring in the final game against the top ranked players from Novi Sad, who were also the returning Champions. After an intense and very emotionally charged 10 minutes of play, Team Novi Sad outscored Team Saskatoon, 21 – 11 for the top spot and prize money, making it two in a row.
“It feels good to be able to do things like this. I am very fortunate” says Linklater. He has come a long way from shooting hoops in Saskatoon’s inner city, Linklater is now ranked 27th in the world standings as an individual player. “The product of that is to be able to have First Nations youth look up to me,” says Linklater. Success on international level, that many First Nations people never reach, is something he’s very proud of. “Being viewed as a role model I take that seriously. I do my best to help inspire kids to show them that anything is possible.”
Coincidentally, Linklater’s upbringing is very much intertwined with FIBA’s 3x3 World Tour motto “From the Streets to the World Stage. “That’s exactly my story.” Linklater and his team are now unofficially advancing to the World All-Star Tournament in Qatar and will receive official news at the end of October. For now, he is back at work in downtown Saskatoon and continuing to train for the next basketball tournament to take him overseas.