January 6, 2009

A ring and a ball

That's pretty much all you need to shoot hoops, which probably explains the popularity of basketball in the Philippines. It can't be the chance to make it big internationally, not yet anyway—most Filipinos just don't have the genes for it. Almost every neighborhood in the country has a basketball court, even if it's just poured concrete.

concrete basketball court in a middle-class neighborhood

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Basketball is big here too, Hilda. I remember, growing up, that we nailed a bushel basket normally used to hold freshly picked apples, up on the side of a barn and with the bottom cut out of the basket, it was our hoop and the side of the barn was our backstop. We used to play, or shoot baskets there for hours when we were kids and out of school. We played a game we called, "Horse." We took turns. The first person would shoot at the basket and make the point and no matter how he shot the ball, all the others had to shoot the same way and make the shot. The first round spelled the "H" in horse and so on through the name. Lots of fun back then.

Olivier said...

cela me fait penser au playground new-yorkais. A Evry, le basket n'est pas un sport premier

it makes me think of the New York playground. A Evry, basketball is not a sport first

angela said...

It's a good way to keep fit anyway even if it isn't a national sport. It's played here but every house seems to have a hoop somewhere in the garden..

Gattina said...

My son used to be a basket player and nearly became professional, it was easy for him he measures 2 m, lol !

Lois said...

We have many of those here too. My son is 6 foot 4 inches tall and the coaches at his high school tried to get him to play basketball. He was always more interested in computers and art.

Halcyon said...

It's good to give the kids something constructive to do with their free time.

Ming the Merciless said...

It looks like a regular basketball court in some NYC neighborhood. Since we don't have a lot of open spaces, basketball courts are build in public spaces and fenced up like that too.

BTW, I left the answer to DUMBO on the blog (below the photo under Update).

George said...

I was very surprised at the number of basketball courts I saw in China years ago.

Sergio Su said...

hey! thanks for visiting my blog! i think i will love photobloggin' as much as u do! Mexico and Manila have a lot of similarities... keep in touch! take care!

lunarossa said...

Hi Hilda, I love basketball but here in the UK (and in Italy too) football is everything and kids mainly play football...Better than cricket anyway. Ciao. A.

abc said...

Good to see you have these facilities for kids. Sports is great for kids and anyone else really.

Anonymous said...

I really like this picture - the fact that you managed to get a kid playing in it really brings it to life!

marley said...

The problem I had with this sport at school was that I couldn't get the ball in the ring!

Destitute Rebel said...

I'm surprised to see how popular basketball is in Philippines, for some reason it never caught on in Pakistan, Nice shot.

Bo Karlo said...

i'm a big basketball fan... i remember throwing and shooting our water dipper to the empty pale like playing basketball when i was a kid. my mother always reprimands me for this. i even do this until now. i have already broken countless pales and dippers...hehhee

escape said...

true! i definitely agree. as long as there's a ring attached to a certain height, it's already a playground!

 gmirage said...

or half-court! I took up basketball for PE back in college, fun fun fun especially because I can shoot and get points lol.

CeciliaGallerani said...

This little guy's basketball looks bigger than his head! Very cute.