More than a million children playing basketball every week

[tony]

www.basketballengland.co.uk/news/more-than-a-million-children-and-young-people-playing-basketball-every-week-sport-england-survey/?fbclid=IwAR0VfI6gd5ajWeGLk--Jyw_OfsitUtlND9vc24PMDT8TJrYA5zr5_b6V4BM

[dexter]

I want to understand what this means. Are there a million children in England who are part of a basketball club, whether that be an after school club at their school or an actual basketball club? I am always suspicious of these “basketball is really popular” articles.

[markb]

No it includes playing at school, and includes from years 1-11.

Fairly clear (I think) that not all of this is children with a desire to play basketball and is just part of general PE lessons. But that doesn't make for nearly as good a soundbite

[dexter]

Britain is a sleeping giant. Basketball is bubbling away beneath the surface. It is a gold mine for Americans with money to invest. They can turn millions of dollars into hundreds of pounds. It’s a really great idea that has never been tried.

[SamH]

I don't know, I was hearing all this back in the 90s - basketball is the most played indoor sport in the UK, etc. It never led to anything. The London Olympics came and went and we had a programme in that, it didn't lead to anything. The BBA farce came and...well, did it really come? It seemed like pie in the sky that was never anywhere near actually happening and it never really went either, the concept seemed to hang around for years then just kind of fizzled out. But it certainly didn't succeed.

And now the BBL has only 10 teams, having failed to succeed in big markets like Birmingham, Liverpool and Derbyshire.

But you know what I think the real kicker is in all this? It isn't the numbers - enough kids play basketball and enjoy it that we should see some decent talent emerging each generation (and to be fair, it does). But we don't have more than just a tiny percentage - why? I feel it's because the grass roots infrasturcture just isn't good enough. I go back to when I was at high school - our PE teacher was rugby made, so of course the first thing we did upon starting at the school was to learn rugby and do it to death. It wasn't my bag, but lo and behold, our school had one of the best programmes in each and every year group, winning local and regional tournaments at every age group. Basketball? Basketball hardly got a look in, none of the PE teachers were any good at teaching it, let alone coaching the school team - when we actually managed to get games arranged against other schools. We were crap, even though there were a few of us who could play - we didn't have any size, we didn't have any structure, proper coaching.

Other schools did have better setups but I doubt they were all that good really. The only place in Sussex renowned for its basketball programme was Angmering Manor, as ex-Bears player Mark Hubbard ran it. They were the business and competed in national tournaments. But it took an ex-pro to go in and run the programme and coach. And the difference it makes...at 14 and being fairly new to the sport, I attended a 1 week summer holiday programme run by Hubbard, just 3 hours a day for 5 days - I learned more and improved more in that week than at any other point. I went from not hitting any 3s in warm up on day 1 to making about 15 on the final day. That guy really knew how to get kids playing better.

But we don't have enough of that - more decent amateur coaching and dedicated programmes enough in this country to develop the junior talent to the level other European countries do. I don't think it's the numbers at all, it's the structure!

[SamH]

You know what my favourite thing is to see? In parks where there's a hoop with a football goal underneath it, and little Johnny has come along with his football but is instead shooting it at the hoop. Love that! By the same token I get depressed when I see kids playing football and neglecting that delightful hoop right above their heads!

[dexter]

England has 1809 rugby clubs and 138,579 registered players.

Basketball England has over 34,000 members playing in 675 affiliated clubs across local and national leagues. Over 14,000 of Basketball England members are under the age of 16, and almost 500 members are over the age of 60. Over 6,500 of our members are female.

So rugby is about 3 or 4 times bigger than basketball by those measures. I prefer to be honest and realistic about where basketball is right now. It is one of 7 team sports specifically named in the national curriculum which is why Basketball England are able to make outlandish claims, but it is a long way behind 4 of those sports (football, cricket, rugby, netball (for girls)).

[erj14]

When we have numbers like Eagles have playing in every city round the country I'll get excited. Boasting about kids chucking a ball at a hoop in a school is just so hollow, very Basketball England.

It's fine though London are paying fortune out in salaries so basketball is going to get dead popular.

[SamH]

One comment I'd make on the rugby comparison. How many people play basketball down the local park? So many parks have at least 1 hoop. Some people play by themselves just shooting around for fun. You can't do that in rugby, you need loads of people and a big area to play on. Even football needs at least 2 of you (unless you play wall ball but that's just really lame!)

So I think loads of people do play some form of basketball, without being a member or joining an official club. You can only really play rugby at all by doing so.

How often do you see a group of kids playing pick up rugby in the park? Exactly.

[dexter]

Jan 27, 2023 22:14:05 GMT SamH said:

One comment I'd make on the rugby comparison. How many people play basketball down the local park? So many parks have at least 1 hoop. Some people play by themselves just shooting around for fun. You can't do that in rugby, you need loads of people and a big area to play on. Even football needs at least 2 of you (unless you play wall ball but that's just really lame!)

So I think loads of people do play some form of basketball, without being a member or joining an official club. You can only really play rugby at all by doing so.

How often do you see a group of kids playing pick up rugby in the park? Exactly.

Yes absolutely basketball is the best ball game to play on your own. If you are part of a basketball club you can do a lot of training on your own. But I don’t think someone throwing a ball at a hoop is participating in basketball any more than someone going for a jog is participating in athletics.