Pickup Basketball’s Roles and Responsibilities

Perhaps pickup basketball wasn’t/isn’t as disorganized as we thought/think. Many of the responsibilities that go into running an organized basketball game or tournament are assumed by participants of pickup ball out of necessity. Things don’t always go smoothly because they aren’t supposed to — it’s pickup basketball. But without certain individuals willing to take on these roles, there’d be total chaos.

Photo by Pedro Henrique Santos on Unsplash

OWNER

This is the guy who owns the basketball. Like a real owner he is the facilitator, has a certain level of power because there’s no game without him or his ball, and he doesn’t necessarily need to have any basketball ability. Unlike real owners, his power diminishes or totally dissolves as soon as someone else comes to the court with a basketball.

GENERAL MANAGER/SCOUT

The individuals assigned to choose teams — however that’s decided — need to have a handle on what kind of team they want to assemble, and must have an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the players available to be chosen or the result can be embarrassing. Some go for all scorers, which can be problematic, while others opt for team players and the rare guy or two who will actually get down and dirty playing defense during a pickup game.

In some locales, when there is an even number of players not exceeding ten available, they’ll shoot free throws and the first five to hit theirs comprise one team. This method eliminates the need for a GM/Scout and can result in some stacked squads (of course, the GM/Scout method can as well, especially if one doesn’t know what he’s doing).

COACH

Each team usually has at least one guy who assumes a leadership role even though he wasn’t chosen for it. It usually just happens, either on the basis of skill level (real or perceived by the individual), competitiveness or simply one’s propensity for barking out orders. This is the guy handing out “defensive assignments” and telling folks where to go on the court (“Yo big man, get under the basket!”)

Madness ensues when two or three guys on the same squad feel they’re the one most qualified to play this role.

SCOREKEEPER

There’s usually one guy on the court who can manage to keep the score in his head accurately while still performing effectively on the court. This is some serious multi-tasking, as his ability to remember who scored, when, and from where is usually called upon to settle the inevitable argument regarding the correct tally, especially as one team draws closer to the winning score.

REFEREE

Whatever time period we’re talking about, rules and self-policing are vital parts of any pickup ball situation. Depending on the court you’re playing on, boundaries have to be established. On smaller courts, maybe the fence is considered out-of-bounds instead of the sidelines, maybe the opposite free throw line is considered when calling a backcourt violation instead of the half-court line, but the ground rules have to be established from the beginning.

And of course, we called our own fouls and violations. Anyone who has played pickup ball has been a referee, whether they wanted the gig or not. Anyone on the defensive team could call a violation against any offensive player (traveling, carrying the basketball, goaltending, etc.), but there were no charging fouls called when we played, and only the player with the ball could call a defensive foul, which made for an interesting time.

The “coach” would destroy you if you got knocked around while attempting a layup, for example, and neglected to call a foul, but there were no “And 1’s.”

If there was a debate over who touched a loose ball last before it went out-of-bounds, it was usually settled with “odd and evens” if a verbal debate wasn’t enough. We’re probably not too far away from someone figuring out how to incorporate replay into pickup games.

And when two guys are into some constant bickering or about to square off — for whatever reason — the others on the court suddenly find themselves in the role of peacemakers.

MAINTENANCE CREW

Many of us can relate to getting our local basketball court in safe playing condition. From removing broken glass and other debris to cleaning up wet spots after a rain shower or even repairing a tattered net, we’ve done it.

SCHEDULE MAKER

By simply yelling out “I got next!”, one guy, who wasn’t even around at the beginning and can show up at any point during a contest, can change the dynamics of gameplay. What looked to be a comfortable stretch of continuous basketball full of rematches (someone from the losing team would always want a rematch: “Let’s run that back!”) suddenly morphs into a single-elimination tournament where the loser gets knocked off the court, especially if one guy waiting to play becomes five or more.

Suddenly everyone’s court time is in peril, and you’ll be on the receiving end of multiple angry glances if you’re deemed to be the main reason your teams gets knocked out.

What a troublemaker.

Collaborative efforts are needed, but it’s really amazing how things can come together when there’s a common goal, in this case, just wanting to play some ball.