Tia Freeman is relishing more 3×3 basketball with Wales and Great Britain following a whirlwind fortnight

After making her Welsh debut in the Celtic 3×3 Invitational in Belfast at the end of May, the 24-year-old helped Great Britain secure qualification to the Europe Cup the following weekend.

“The past couple of weeks have been super exciting, really competitive and just a great experience,” said Tia, who has a grandmother from Holyhead. “Qualifying for the Europe Cup is probably my best basketball achievement so far.”

Tia teamed up with Emma Bailey, Issy Bunyan and player coach Laura Shanahan in Belfast.

There they upset Great Britain twice as well as recording a double win over hosts Northern Ireland in a tournament that also featured Ireland, Lithuania and Ireland U23s.

“Putting the Wales jersey on for the first time was really exciting,” said Tia, who plays her club basketball with Anglia Ruskin University.

She says the key to success in Belfast was “playing really hard, setting good screens, and playing together as a team”.

The former Essex Rebels player added: “Everyone contributed, hitting their shots and playing really good defence. It was just a great team success.

“The highlight for me was probably the final game and beating Northern Ireland by hitting 21. It showed really good progress from the start of the tournament to the end.

“Coming out of the tournament with four wins is something to be proud of.”

No sooner was she back at home than she was joining up with the GB squad in Manchester.

From there, they flew to Slovakia to compete against Israel, Slovenia, Lithuania and Italy for the right to compete in the Europe Cup 3×3 2025 in Denmark.

“Winning all four of our games to top our group and automatic qualify is probably the best moment of my career so far,” said Tia.

“The key to success was coming into the tournament with no expectations of ourselves apart from going into every game as hard as we could and to compete at the highest level we could.”

Coached by Krumesh Patel, GB will now join 11 other teams in the Europe Cup, which takes place in Copenhagen from the 5th to 7th September.

Tia hopes to be there, but 3×3 has captured her heart whatever happens.

“It is a super high tempo game which suits me well,” she said. “I just enjoy the style, speed and pace of the game – and I want to keep on playing for Wales and GB.”