Where did you learn to play basketball?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

So, where did y'all learn to play basketball?

I learned at a local park on a concrete court with a hoop that had a net made of chain.  I can still hear that sound when a ball went through that hoop.  The court would get very slick when it was wet, but that didn't prevent us from taking shovels to get snow off the court in the Spring. 

Usually played two on two with my three best friends.  Occasionally the four of us would play against four other kids from the other side of the neighborhood - and would usually crush them.  (To make up for the times they would crush us on the football field.)

That court, likely with the same net, was still there when my parents moved out of their house six years ago!

[jesmu84]

Ners' scoop posts

[wadesworld]

My dad used to play hoops Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with other judges, lawyers, social workers, etc. from 12:00-2:00.  I used to tag along and shoot around between games during my summer vacations from as young as I can remember.

In grade school I would go up to McKinley in the summer with a friend and we would shoot from morning to lunch, go home for lunch, and head back and shoot until dinner.  We lived there.  Occasionally would play 2 on 2 versus kids who would go up there.

The earliest "organized" basketball I can remember was the Rick Majerus camps at Cardinal Stritch.  The coach at Strictch was the grandfather of one of my grade school friends so I got to go for free two years.  I think I got the award for best passer one year and most improved player the next.    After that I did some individual work with Tracy Webster before he got a job with Ball State.  Was rooting very hard for him to win the National Title with Illinois but they fell just short.  He was the interim head coach at DePaul when DePaul beat Marquette for their first conference win in 2010.

[Galway Eagle]

I didn't learn, the natural talent was just there when I was born 

[BrewCity83]

Had a hoop on our garage in the alley.  My brother and I learned from our dad every night after dinner (that is, when we weren't playing baseball or football).  Whatever was in season.

[Pakuni]

The first time I tried real basketball - more than chucking up shoots on a driveway - was when I tried out for the 6th grade team at my school. Needless to say, I was terrible, didn't make the cut and from then on stuck with other sports.
But somehow in high school I fell in with the basketball players and several became my closet friends. I regularly ran the playgrounds and open gyms with them, and while I never got as good as they were, I eventually became good enough so as not to be a total embarrassment.

[MUfan12]

Started on the driveway, but learned on the playground. Since I was never tall, I had to learn quickly how to use my body and the rim to shield guys off.

My jumper didn't really develop until the summer before I started HS. That was all just a ton of reps on the hoop at home.

[Galway Eagle]

Since people are giving real answers... I learned walking alleys asking kids to play on their hoop. When I was a kid my sister asked Corey Maggette to give me a lesson for an hour in exchange for her helping him with homework. He basically said I sucked and should stick with other sports. Still played till 8th grade but he was accurate I was not good lol.

[shoothoops]

Our driveway. We were fortunate to have a big, heavy, silver, in ground basketball pole and hoop with chain net and a teal blue green backboard. I was 3 trying to throw the ball up in the hoop. (my family added a shorter one for me at that age on the same pole)  3rd grade onward was when I played teams and leagues, tourneys competitive etc...at various grade school and high school gyms. We also played at the boys and girls club which was a great experience. There was an indoor place that had several small gyms connected to each other, nothing but hoops, and barely enough room for spectators along the walls with folding chairs. Two on two in driveway was tough to beat when I had my dad on my team.

Soccer and baseball started a little younger, backyard, local park. I was four when soccer (it was very big) was super competitive with teams, tourneys events etc...and baseball shortly after. I played soccer, basketball, baseball, and tennis competitively.  I played street hockey (it was popular) and football for fun in pick up games with friends, but not to the super competitive extent of the other four with regards to travel, teams, leagues, etc...

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

My first "Biddy Basketball" team was The Bullets.  (Go figure?  Well it was the 70's.)

My dad put a hoop up in our yard on the street in our suburban deadend street neighborhood.  The whole neighborhood was always outside our house playing.   

The family across the street sold their home and unfortunately a family of a****les bought it and they used to park their car by the hoop so we couldn't play.  Well, we did and their car "accidentally"got hit by the ball several times and thanks to Beverly Hills Cop we stuck food particles in Grandpa's car because he was the biggest a** of them all.  They would say stuff to my parents and the neighbors who's only reply was "Don't park there."  Apparently they never complained to the police because they had other legal issues.  They were gone in less than 2 years. 

[4everwarriors]

Wisconsin Ave. School playground---27th and Wisconsin. You were good if a brother picked you for his teammate.


#privileged

[mu_hilltopper]

The height of my basketball knowledge is when Shooter told the team not to get caught watching the paint dry on the picket fence.  (Hoosiers)

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Wisconsin Ave. School playground---27th and Wisconsin. You were good if a brother picked you for his teammate.


#privileged

Its like you were born on 3rd base or sumthin'.

[GooooMarquette]

The only "formal" teaching I ever had was a couple years at Al's Medalist camp out at St. John's Military Academy in the 70s. There were a few college coaches there (including Rick Majors and Dick Versace), but I was one of the younger campers, so we had HS coaches for our group.

Other than that, just the hoop in my driveway, a couple years of YMCA ball, and a couple of rec league teams in high school.

[dgies9156]

Shelby Park Community Center in what is now East Nashville, TN. At the time it was a very ordinary middle class, nice park.

Now it's the hottest neighborhood in the city.

My mother, of all people, taught me and a few friends in a Cub Scout troop.

[MU11W]

My basement/driveway - Still remember getting a mini-hoop for Christmas.  Played on that for hours in our unfinished basement, once the weather warmed up it went outside. My dad had to replace the wooden backboard several times due to thunderous dunks and wind (mostly wind)... That's when they put a real hoop up in the driveway. 

My grandfather was a high school basketball ref and both my dad and uncle attempted to play in college, so they were my first teachers.

First league/organized basketball was at the Y in like 1st grade or some time around there, they didn't keep score. Many rec leagues, school teams, AAU, and camps followed over the years

[warriorchick]

When I started playing basketball, I didn't know anything more than you got one point if you shot from that one line on the court, and two points from everywhere else.

The first time I played on the playground with some other sixth-graders who was actually knew what they were doing, I kept getting called for double-dribbling.  When I asked what that meant, I was told that I wasn't allowed to dribble, hold the ball, and then dribble again.  I had done that because I was losing control of the ball, so to make sure I didn't do that anymore, I tried dribbling with both hands at the same time...

Fortunately, my grade school team was no-cut, and by the end of the year I won the award for Most Improved Player.   

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

In the back gyms of Maine East high school. But at a certain point, access to an entire coaching staff and a full sized court does nothing if you don't have a lick of talent.

[GBPhoenix1993]

I never was very good but I can sort of thank the Diener family for giving me my start.  The first team I was ever on was 1978-79 in 4th grade and coached by one of Travis Diener's uncles (maybe Jim Diener?).  Travis' older half brother Dan was the best player on my team and I was the worst. Sadly, I believe Dan passed away just before Travis went to Marquette.

Later in life Tom Diener was one of my teachers and helped steer me to his alma mater UW Green Bay.  Was pretty awesome that years later Tom would become a fantastic high school coach.  So in summary, I owe the Diener family a little bit of credit for instilling a bit of love for basketball in me even though I probably had like 5% of the talent a guy like Travis had.

[Billy Hoyle]

Our neighbors, the Johnson’s, had a hoop in there large driveway and let me use it. Their son, Brad, taught me basketball when I was in first grade. The next year I won my first tourney bracket and bought my own hoop.

[lawdog77]

Our neighbors, the Johnson’s, had a hoop in there large driveway and let me use it. Their son, Brad, taught me basketball when I was in first grade. The next year I won my first tourney bracket and bought my own hoop.

You bought your own hoop in second grade with the prize money from your tourney win?

[tower912]

My driveway, my friends' driveways, the school playground against kids from the neighborhood.

[WarriorFan]

First was the hoop in the driveway, where my mom could make 10/10 free throws and we all tried to at least tie her.  We had to change the contest to best of 15 because she would usually miss at least one of 15.  Then the YMCA leagues.  At 14 I got a job at the YMCA for which the major benefit was being the 10th (or 15th) player when the "lunch buckets" group was short of a person.  I really learned to play with this group at the Y.

As a kid I always went to Dick Bennett's UWSP summer camps.  There was this kid named Tony same age as me who used to clean up on everyone.

I still go back to the YMCA 36 years later and it's a lot of the same guys still playing, but with a young generation that keeps us all honest.  The age range on the court at any given time can be 18 - 65.

[Warrior Code]

I started really little, first on my Fisher-Price hoop in the basement and then our hoop in the driveway. When I was four, my dad lied about my age to get me on an ages 5/6 team in the Salvation Army league. When we got there to sign up, some guys (I now presume they were players from Peoria High, but to me at the time they may as well have been in the NBA) were playing on the court. Dunking, swatting shots, talking trash. I almost cried and wanted to quit because I thought that was who I would have to play against. After they pointed out the other kids my size who were there to sign up, I agreed to play and have been chasing the ghost of Ners ever since.

[Billy Hoyle]

You bought your own hoop in second grade with the prize money from your tourney win?

Yes. The pot was well over $100 (it was put on at my dad's hospital so a bunch of doctors entering).  I bought a hoop, a subscription to Sports Illustrated and Cabbage Patch Kid for my younger sister. After winning it three more times I was banned from entering.

We didn't have a paved driveway so my dad mounted it on the swingset he'd built for us in the back yard and I played on grass.