By EMMA MILNER | City of Arkadelphia

The City of Arkadelphia’s Parks and Recreation department will be hosting a 3-on-3 basketball tournament March 24 and 25 at Feaster Park.

Parks and Rec’s “March Madness 3-on-3 Tournament” will be broken into two brackets. A youth bracket will play on Friday, March 24 for individuals ages 17 and younger. An adult bracket will play on Saturday, March 25 for individuals ages 18 and older.

Games will begin at 9:00 a.m. on both days and consist of two, 12-minute halves. The clock will not stop unless a team asks for a 90-second timeout or the half has ended.

“It’s going to be a fun tournament but there are definitely rules we’re going to follow,” Parks and Recreation Director Stuart Tapson said. “We’re doing this by the book, right down to requiring a team to forfeit if they aren’t on the court at their designated time.”

According to Tapson, both adult and youth teams will have to forfeit their game if they are not on the court at their designated time and/or they receive two technicals during a game. Substitutions are another area players need to be mindful of. Teams may make a substitution in the event of an injury, but the substitute will become the third player for that team. The substitute must be eligible to play in the particular age bracket, and cannot play on another team. Substitutions will not be allowed if a player fouls out of a game, meaning the team will have to complete the tournament with only two players.

“3-on-3 tournaments are a great way to have some fun and engage in friendly competition,” Tapson said. “We’re looking forward to hosting one of our own, and we hope our residents are, too.”

Registration is open for Parks and Rec’s March Madness tournament. There is a $75 per team registration fee. Individual players can also sign up to play and pay once they are assigned to a team. To register, visit the Recreation Center or recreation.arkadelphia.gov.