How to Practice Pickup Basketball Etiquette

Video Transcript

"Coach Rudy here. I've won championships both as a coach and a player. Let's work on our pick up basketball etiquette, specifically they guys who have next game, right. Guys, if you have next game, and there are people waiting to play, choose the people that are waiting to play instead of the people that are coming off the loosing team. Second thing, if somebody calls a foul, just respect it as a foul. Most of us know the difference between incidental contact and a foul. If you have a disagreement about it, both people agree to shoot a free throw to see who has possession of the ball. That's good etiquette. The next thing I want to talk about is violations. Sometimes people take three, four steps. You call traveling, and they want to argue. Listen, if a guys doesn't understand traveling, and they want to fight and think that they didn't travel, just give them the ball, give them the basket, and continue on with the game. Traditionally, pick up basketball is meant to have fun. A lot of young kids go out to work on their skills. A lot of the older guys, like myself, who can't give up the dream, come out, just try to stay loose, try to stay young. None of us are getting paid for being out there, alright. Let's try and make sure everyone gets to play. Now don't get me wrong, I know there's one or two guys off the loosing team that are really good, but if you've got ten people waiting to play, and you take four guys off the loosing team, that's not really making sense to the people who are waiting. If there's a discrepancy on a foul, shoot a free throw. If there's a violation, a travel, double dribble, something like that, and people really want to fight it, just let it go. Give them the ball, give them the basket, whatever it is. Continue on with the game, let's have some fun out here, alright. Let's play some pick up."