The Rise, Re­bound, Re­form (R³) 3x3 Bas­ket­ball In­vi­ta­tion­al crowned new cham­pi­ons on Sun­day, but the day’s im­pact reached far be­yond the score­board.

Coach KG (CKG) Elite de­throned de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Spar­tans TT 11–4 to cap­ture the Un­der-21 men’s ti­tle in­side the Youth Trans­for­ma­tion and Re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion Cen­tre (YTRC) gym­na­si­um in Arou­ca. With the con­test still close at 6–4 late in reg­u­la­tion, Ju­dah Guy seized con­trol, bury­ing back-to-back two-point­ers and scor­ing the fi­nal five points. His clutch fin­ish se­cured a per­fect 5-0 run for team­mates Ajani Rechais, Jameer Young, Cypri­an Wing­ham, and Guy, and earned him Fi­nals "Most Valu­able Play­er" (MVP) ho­n­ours.

His­to­ry was al­so made in the in­au­gur­al Women’s Di­vi­sion, where Roy­al­ty Apex dom­i­nat­ed NCA 14–2. Ize-Tao Best poured in 10 points and was named Fi­nals MVP, while Joelle and Na­han­da Best pro­vid­ed steady sup­port as Roy­al­ty Apex com­plet­ed an un­beat­en 4-0 cam­paign.

While tro­phies gleamed un­der the gym lights, the in­vi­ta­tion­al’s greater tri­umph lay in its pur­pose. Cre­at­ed to re­in­force pos­i­tive be­hav­iour and strength­en com­mu­ni­ty ties, the R³ tour­na­ment brings civil­ian teams in­side YTRC to com­pete along­side the cen­tre’s own res­i­dents.

Res­i­dents ap­proached the tour­na­ment with in­fec­tious en­er­gy, pep­per­ing or­gan­is­ers with ques­tions and seiz­ing every op­por­tu­ni­ty to learn. Their in­volve­ment ex­tend­ed be­yond the field of play, with res­i­dents serv­ing as ta­ble of­fi­cials, op­er­at­ing the DJ set­up and sound sys­tem, and even form­ing a rhythm sec­tion to en­hance the at­mos­phere.

On the court, the sec­ond edi­tion re­flect­ed clear growth. Three YTRC men’s squads par­tic­i­pat­ed—up from two in 2024—and for the first time, two women’s res­i­dent teams took the floor.

The men test­ed vis­it­ing op­po­nents and left mo­ti­vat­ed to el­e­vate their skills for fu­ture com­pe­ti­tion, while the women par­tic­i­pants em­braced their de­but with un­shak­able en­thu­si­asm and, de­spite ear­ly ex­its, took pride in rep­re­sent­ing their peers and prov­ing they be­longed.

Vis­it­ing teams praised the event’s or­gan­i­sa­tion and the rare chance to con­nect with res­i­dents as fel­low ath­letes.

Ac­cord­ing to the or­gan­is­ers, many de­part­ed ea­ger to know what was next on the T&T Prison Ser­vice's cal­en­dar of events, in a re­lease. It added: "For the Ser­vice, that re­sponse af­firms a broad­er vi­sion: the R³ 3x3 In­vi­ta­tion­al is more than a bas­ket­ball tour­na­ment; it is a vivid ex­am­ple of how sport can bridge di­vides, fos­ter dis­ci­pline, and in­spire trans­for­ma­tion.

"None of it would have been pos­si­ble with­out the ded­i­cat­ed staff, who worked tire­less­ly be­hind the scenes to co­or­di­nate lo­gis­tics, sup­port par­tic­i­pants, and en­sure the tour­na­ment ran smooth­ly."

As the fi­nal whis­tle echoed through the YTRC gym, the score­board record­ed win­ners and run­ners-up, but the true take­away was shared by all: bas­ket­ball can change lives be­yond the court.

Tour­na­ment Group­ing

Men's U21 Groups

Group A: YTRC 2, YTRC 3, Spar­tans TT, Roy­al­ty

Group B: YTRC 1, Coach KG Elite, Trou Ballers, East Stars

Women’s U21 Groups

Group A: YTR­CF 1, Roy­al­ty Apex, NCA

Group B: YTR­CF 2, Roy­al­ty Sum­mit, 500 Hawks

Fi­nal plac­ings

U-21 Men: 1 Coach KG Elite, 2 Spar­tans TT, 3 Roy­al­ty

Fi­nals MVP: Ju­dah Guy

U-21 Women: 1 Roy­al­ty Apex, 2 NCA, 3 500 Hawks

Fi­nals MVP: Ize-Tao Best