On heels of world silver, Canada's 3x3 basketball women want increased support

The draw of 3x3 basketball is right there in the name — three players on the court per side, a departure from the sport's typical 5-on-5 format.

But when Canada's women won silver at the World Cup last month, they did so with a much smaller team than their opponent.

Katherine Plouffe, one of Canada's players, said France's gold-medal squad had "about eight" staffers "including physios, medical people, analysts and coaches and stuff like that."

Conversely, Canada's entourage consisted of four players, one physiotherapist and Ron Yeung, Canada Basketball's director of domestic and 3x3 basketball. Additionally, two performance analysts were working from home.

"So bringing home second at a World Cup, I hope it shows Sport Canada [and] Own The Podium that Canadian women have huge potential to medal at the Olympics," Plouffe said.

WATCH | Canadian women earn silver at World Cup:

Neither the men's nor women's teams played in Tokyo, the latter due to a qualifying quirk that allowed just one gender from most countries to compete for an Olympic spot and the former having not made it through that process.

But with qualifying rules since loosened, both Canadian teams could reasonably reach Paris 2024.

They say increased support from Canada Basketball would go a long way toward achieving that goal.

"That would be ideal to have not just the team running the show, but to have a coach, more staff members and people that can help us reach the top level," Plouffe said.

Plouffe and her sister Michelle, also a two-time Olympian, made the switch to 3x3 full-time in 2019. The Edmonton natives were joined by Kacie Bosch of Lethbridge, Alta., and Paige Crozon of Humboldt, Sask., at the World Cup.

Canada Basketball did send the group to a tuneup