Olympic 3X3 Basketball Player, L3Harris Engineer Canyon Barry Has Grueling Schedule to Prepare for Games in Paris

Barry works at the L3Harris Technologies headquarters in Melbourne

EDITOR’S NOTE: Olympic 3X3 basketball is played on one half of a basketball court where two teams of three players compete. Both teams attack and defend the same hoop, depending on who has possession of the ball. The winner is the team with the highest score at the end of 10 minutes or the first team to reach 21 points. The three‑point line in conventional basketball serves as the two-point line in 3X3 basketball, with shots made outside the line earning two points and those inside it one.

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(NBCNEWS.COM) – Former college basketball star Canyon Barry isn’t the only Olympian who has to balance 9-to-5 work with preparation for Paris.

But Barry, a hoops scion with a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s in nuclear engineering, was probably the only Team USA athlete giving a high-level work presentation from Mongolia at 2 a.m. the afternoon back home in Florida last month while he was also getting ready for the Olympics.

Barry, the son of NBA Hall of Fame guard Rick Barry, has a strict regimen: up by dawn for weight training and yoga, going to L3Harris Technologies headquarters in Melbourne, Florida, for work, then off to the gym for basketball training after he punches out of the office.

“It’s definitely a grind at times,” Barry, who plays 3×3, said in an interview that started 30 minutes behind schedule … because he had to take a work call. “I’m so fortunate [my employers] are willing to work with me. That’s part of the Olympic spirit to do whatever you can try to succeed and pursue that dream.”

Scores of elite athletes have to put on their work boots before they lace up sneakers to run down Olympic aspirations. Sports psychologist Mark Aoyagi said the laboring athletes face a uniquely difficult challenge.

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