BROTHERS Blake and Max Jackson launched HalfCourt, a new social 3×3 basketball competition, at Mount Erin Secondary College in Frankston South on 9 August, becoming the second league of its kind in Australia (after Adelaide) and the first in Victoria.
Blake, 23, and Max, 21, grew up in Langwarrin and now live in Frankston South. Both have played for the Frankston Blues NBL1 team, with Blake continuing to play while Max has recently stepped back from the club.
The pair came up with the idea for HalfCourt after struggling to find anywhere to play 3×3 basketball regularly – a faster-paced offshoot of the traditional game that features three players a side and has grown in popularity in recent years, including at the Olympics.
“Max came up with the idea,” said Blake.
“We were talking in our kitchen one night about other sports, and Max mentioned a three-on-three league and how no one is doing it.
“We wanted to bring that to a weekly league, but we didn’t want it to be just for all the good players. We wanted it to be a social thing, to bring a community together and make it something that’s looked forward to on a Sunday night.”
HalfCourt will run as a 10-week season, including a two-week grading phase and a week of finals. Matches will be held on Sunday evenings between 5pm and 8pm, with two 12-minute games running at once across a split court.
Fifteen teams and 70 players signed up ahead of the launch, with registrations remaining open for a further fortnight. Teams can register up to five players each, with three allowed on court at a time.
Players pay a one-off $30 registration fee, plus a $64 team fee split between players each week they take part.
The brothers have partnered with local businesses, including the Frankston coffee shop Project One, which is sponsoring a weekly highlight prize, and surf shop Trigger Bros, which is providing vouchers. Local DJs, photographers and videographers will also feature each week.
Blake said the roles for the venture were split between the pair.
“Max does more of the ‘boring’ stuff, I would say. He does a lot of the finances. He’s written all the league constitutions and codes of conduct, and insurance and whatever.
“I’m more of the creative side. I run the social media and do a lot of the marketing and graphic design.”
All games will be filmed, with highlights shared across HalfCourt’s social media accounts, where Blake said their following was growing rapidly with over 200,000 combined views already before the launch.
The brothers said their aim was to expand the competition beyond its first season.
“We’re hoping to expand into a women’s comp, and hopefully open one up for kids as well,” he told The News.
Find out more and follow HalfCourt on Instagram and TikTok, @halfcourt_3x3
First published in the Frankston Times – 11 August 2026