In Britain, Basketball Can Be a Tough Sell

So sayeth The New York Times.

A few thoughts on what was an interesting article:

1 - About 10 years ago I went to a BBL game at Bracknell (my kid brother was very into the game at the time, and persuaded me and my dad to take him). The standard of play looks a lot better in the flesh than it ever did on TV. However, there was still a feeling of watching a 'niche' sport of only moderate professionalism - a combination of the setting (a sports centre main sports hall) and the quality of equipment used.

2 - Basketball may now be the 'street sport' of choice for some inner city kids, but it (along with every other sport in the UK) has a lot to do to stop the talented youngsters playing football almost to the exclusion of everything else. One problem is that you need a hoop to play, whereas the old cliche of 'jumpers for goalposts' actually has some truth in it and allows football to be played almost anywhere.

3 - For kids who prefer 'throw and catch' ball games, rugby (in either code) is still the traditional sport to go in to. Additionally, rugby union in particular has a niche for the freakily tall kids, so yet more will be steered away from basketball and to becoming a 2nd row forward (as an aside, imagine how good Shaq could have been there - 7 ft + and 23 stone).

4 - I don't know how much basketball is now played in schools, but I remember we did actually play quite a lot at middle and high school around 1980 to 85 or so. Indeed, first time I had my nose broken was playng basketball in a games lesson, when an opponent caught the ball above me and brought his elbow back (as you naturally do on catching a high ball) straight into my face

In my school it was the second support played and the most frequent indoor sport played. I played for a Junior team but never really grew enough lol. I live on a council estate and there was no one playing down there so we had to go nearer to the city centre to get pick up games. It was really popular at school with both boys and girls, but there was next to no structure for Juniors then and I love in Leicester which has the oldest operational franchise in the country. I think the answer is local leagues for kids at school and out of it, but currently there is no pathways to am elite level.

In my school it was the second sport played and the most frequent indoor sport played. I played for a Junior team but never really grew enough lol. I live on a council estate and there was no one playing down there so we had to go nearer to the city centre to get pick up games. It was really popular at school with both boys and girls, but there was next to no structure for Juniors then, and I live in Leicester which has the oldest operational franchise in the country. I think the answer is local leagues for kids at school and out of it, but currently there is no pathways to an elite level.