Most team sports took a hit during the pandemic, but one proved rather resilient. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s (SFIA’s) 2022 Topline Participation Report, basketball continued to lead team sports groups in participation despite the difficulty faced in navigating lockdowns and reconfiguring spaces to play.
In fact, as the SFIA reported, basketball gained players throughout the pandemic, increasing from 24.9 million in 2019 to 27.8 million in 2020. Though participation numbers for the sport slightly declined in 2021 to 27.1 million, the fact remains: more athletes are willing to take a shot at basketball.
“With basketball, there are so many benefits,” says Jenny Johnston, assistant director of youth and sports development for USA Basketball, the sport’s national governing body. “On top of the obvious physical benefits, there is the social standpoint. Athletes get to spend time with their teammates and friends while participating in a healthy competition.”
USA Basketball offers several programs to engage youth players of all ages in hopes of getting them interested in the game. For its youngest players, this includes Youth Clinics, where instructors visit a variety of schools around the country to provide students with a free and fun day of basketball, as well as Open Court, which brings the game to children as young as six years old. Through this free program, athletes can partake in 30 sessions, in groups based on their ages, and earn prizes for their participation.
“Open Court is just about having fun,” Johnston explains. “We understand there are many different reasons why kids want to play basketball, and we want to provide them with a chance to play for fun without the pressure to make a team or complete a practice while also helping them start to build their skills within the game.”
For athletes who are a little older or more advanced in the game, USA Basketball offers Gold Camps, which are considered advanced-level programs for middle school players to work on skill development. Athletes can partake starting at the age of 12, and it’s a program that is seeing increased interest. In fact, the organization has expanded the program from two camps per year to eight. “We have seen that the community appreciates these camps, as they are great for player development,” Johnston says. “Many youth basketball players want to love the sport, the fun, and the competition, and they want to improve, but they aren’t quite at an elite level yet may be well on their way to it. Gold Camps are one way we seek to help them get there.”
USA Basketball is also seeing increased interest in the U.S. Open Basketball Championships, its premier youth basketball summer tournament. Open to boys’ and girls’ teams across multiple age divisions, U.S. Open has two divisions, one for 12U and 13U, and grades 8, 9, and 10 teams. “We have increased the number of divisions since it started about six years ago, and we are seeing more teams come back each year,” Johnston adds.
USA Basketball isn’t the only organization bringing more players into the game and seeing its efforts pay off. The United States Basketball Association (USBA) has been doing both since it was established in 2005. “We want to open the game up to all kids,” says Mark Thompson, founder and president of USBA. “We want all kids to enjoy the sport, and if they have never played, it’s our goal to introduce them to it. So far, we’ve been pretty successful at it, because except for the pandemic, which had us completely shut down for a year, we’ve been growing by 20 to 25 percent each year.”
The USBA offers boys and girls in grades 2 to 12 an opportunity to play, both through camps and its annual tournament, the USBA National Championship, which draws up to 500 teams. This summer, the organization will host eight events all over the country and even internationally. “We’re already in Canada and Puerto Rico, and this summer we’re going to Iceland for the first time, which we’re excited about,” Thompson says. “We’ve also added some stops in new cities around the United States as well, including one in North Dakota and one in Iowa.”
In addition to the summer camps, the organization will also be hosting the College Prospect Camp, which is for athletes no younger than grade 6 as it focuses on those with the skills to potentially move on to the collegiate level.
Youth Basketball of America (YBOA) is another organization aiming to increase the exposure of the sport with a reach of around 100,000 children each year, notes Jack Love, national director of YBOA.
Now in its 35th year, YBOA has youth athletes across all age groups from around the United States and many other areas, including Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the Virgin Islands. Its big event each year is the YBOA National Championship, held for both boys and girls, which draws up to 400 teams per event.
To keep participation numbers trending upwards, YBOA has implemented new programs this year, one of which is a licensee program. Through the licensee programs, individual coaches or even clubs or other organizations such as the YMCA can be given territory to put teams together with the assistance of the national organization.
“The licensee program is giving us opportunities to add areas we’ve never been in before,” Love says. “For example, we just added an area of Washington State that we’ve never had a presence in before, and that’s just one of many so far.”
YBOA has also removed a former membership fee previously required to participate in its events—a major move in the organization, but one aligning with its mission of bringing the sport to as many participants as possible. “We don’t want there to be barriers prohibiting kids from taking part in basketball,” Love says. “From teamwork to self-discipline to responsibility, there’s so much that can be learned through the sport, and we want all kids to have the chance.”
