Leaders of Unites #139 - Brian ten Bosch

1 September, 2026

"The philosophy of 3X3 Unites to teach young people life skills through basketball really appealed to me."

I was 17 when a friend and I were invited to join Landstede

My name is Brian ten Bosch and I am 33 years old. I was born and raised in Elst, a village between Arnhem and Nijmegen, but I have now been living in Zwolle for more than fifteen years. I moved there as a teenager because of basketball. I was 17 when a friend and I were invited to join the Landstede youth programme.

Zwolle has become my home. The city was not entirely new to me, though. My mother's roots are there. She was born and raised in Zwolle. It is quite funny that I have now been living there for so long. I sometimes call Zwolle a big village. I know so many people there, partly because of basketball. I like the down-to-earth mentality. I enjoy living there with my girlfriend and our two children.

As a child, I was already crazy about basketball, although I do not come from a basketball family. My mother was a tennis coach, so I started with tennis and also played football for a very short time. But when I was introduced to basketball through both of our neighbours, I was hooked. I had a talent for it, and of course that motivates you. I also have a younger brother. He started playing basketball because of me.

I installed the courts during the first Dutch National 3x3 Championship in 2009 and played in it myself

As a youth player at Landstede, I dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player, but that did not happen. I trained with the first team once or twice. There were also several American players on that team. That was when I quickly realised: I am simply not as good as they are. Later on, I played alongside Jesper Jobse and Bas Rozendaal at Meppel, among others, where we became champions of the Promotion Division.

Alongside regular basketball, I have always played 3x3 basketball as well. I installed the courts during the first Dutch National 3x3 Championship in 2009 and also competed in the tournament myself. Since then, I have always been involved, and later I also completed an internship at the Dutch Basketball Federation. Although I never became a professional player, I have always wanted to get the very most out of my basketball career.

For a few more years, I played basketball at Landstede in a team made up of friends. Last season, that team switched to 3x3. I have always found 3x3 itself more dynamic than 5-on-5 basketball. We won the competition, which was great. Besides that, it is a lot of fun and we also do many enjoyable things together outside basketball.

The philosophy of 3X3 Unites to teach young people life skills through basketball really appealed to me

Jesper was my teammate at Meppel when, in 2016, he organised the very first 3X3 Unites event during Urban Sports Week Amsterdam. I helped because Jesper asked me to, and because the entire philosophy of 3X3 Unites—teaching young people life skills through 3x3 basketball—really appealed to me. At that time, I was already playing 3x3 basketball all over the country.

So I have been involved with 3X3 Unites from the very beginning. I think that is really cool. I was living in Zwolle, so in 2017 we came up with the idea of starting a 3x3 community there as well. I coordinated everything for almost four years with great pleasure. Together with several other driving forces, I started recruiting young people from the basketball club for the 3X3 Leader Course.

During the very first 3X3 Leader Course in Zwolle, I shadowed Bas Rozendaal. It is wonderful to see how young people develop through the programme and are given opportunities. I am also proud that over the years we have trained many young people in Zwolle, and that several of them now play a very active role within 3X3 Unites. Think of Lenno, David and Tamar, among many others.

Kobe Bryant will always remain an inspiration to me

I always play in my Kobe shoes (Kobe Bryant shoes by Nike). I have been a huge fan of him my entire life. I watched as many Los Angeles Lakers games as I could, especially the playoff games. From a young age, he motivated and inspired me—both as a basketball player and as a person. His entire attitude, always pushing on, complete dedication and creativity really appealed to me.

Although he passed away in an accident in 2020, he still has an influence on my life. He will always remain an inspiration to me, and that is why I still play in his shoes. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to see him play basketball live.

It would be great if 3x3Zwolle could be fully run by 3X3 Leaders in the coming years

Together with 3x3 referee Klaas Dijkstra, Pelle Klappe (3X3 Leader) and Thomas Bartelds, I organised 3x3Zwolle for the third year in a row this past summer. During the first edition, the regional final of the Rabo 3x3 Street League was part of the event. Nowadays, the core team consists of Twent, Pelle, Samiq, Mathijs, Tamar, Paul and me.

In addition, teams from 3X3 Unites have always participated, and this year eight 3X3 Leaders helped in the run-up to and during the event. I would love to see the tournament fully taken over by 3X3 Leaders from Zwolle in the coming years, and for them to grow it into the biggest 3x3 event in the Netherlands.

Besides my work as an online marketer, I am also involved with Open38, a sporting hub in Zwolle where urban sports, creativity, education and social innovation come together, and where 3X3 Unites is one of the four partners. I want to explore how we can offer more 3x3 basketball there and organise more events.