basketball reflection essay

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Basketball Reflection Paper Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Psychology , American Sports , Success , Competition , Teamwork , Life , Sports , Security

Published: 12/11/2019

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In conclusion, basketball is a game that requires both physical and mental involvement in the part of the player. I believe that every player has to be ready to play as a team in that teamwork is essential if a basketball team is going to win a particular game. In addition basketball fans are part of the game. Finally, I believe that it is important to make sure that the fans that attend any basketball game are controllable so as not disrupt the smooth flow of the game.

Works Cited

Allen, Forrest, C. Basketball. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1991. Print.

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Basketball Essay for Students and Children

500+ essay on basketball.

The game of basketball has truly become global in the last few years. The game is currently popular in the United States. Also, it is described by many as an American game because of the fun and competitive element in it. Also, this is one of the games which is played indoors and still caters to billions of fans around the world. This game was Dr. James Naismith from Canada. Initially, he invented the game by using a rectangular pitch which was 6 feet wide and 4 feet high. Additionally, the court includes a free throw line which is 12 feet long. In basketball essay, students will get to know about the different components that make the game of basketball special.

It is a team game that has gained immense popularity. Also, the game is played with the help of a ball and the ball is shot into the basket that is positioned horizontally. So, the objective in the game is to shoot the ball and score the maximum points. This game is played by 2 teams that constitute a total of 5 players each. Also, the game is played on a marked rectangular floor that has a basket on both the ends. 

Originally, basketball was played using a soccer ball. Also, it was James Naismith that used a peach basket which ha ad a nonhollow bottom. So, this basket was nailed at a height of 10 ft. above the ground and on an elevated track. If you consider the manual removal of the ball from the basket a drawback then the bottom was removed to and it took the shape of modern-day baskets. Also, dribbling was not part of the game initially. Eventually, it evolved till 1950 by which the balls got better shape due to manufacturing. 

Additionally, the orange ball was evolved from the brown ball. The brown ball was used in the beginning as it was thought that the ball is more visible. By 1996, the peach baskets used were replaced by metal hoops on the backboard. 

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Basketball Game 

At the start of the game, a referee tosses the ball at the center of the court between two players. One player from either team try to get their hands on the ball and the ball is passed on to the teammates. For scoring a point, a team needs to shoot the ball through the basket. If a shot is scored from a distance that is closer to the basket than the 3 point line than it fetches 2 points. Also, if the ball is shot from the distance behind 3 point line, it fetches 3 points. So, the team that has a maximum number of points is declared the winner. 

In case of a draw, there may be additional time allotted to both the teams. In the game, a player is cannot move if he is holding the ball. The player needs to dribble, otherwise, it is considered as a foul. Likewise, when there is a physical contact that affects the other team then it counted as a physical foul. 

Basketball is game played with a maintained and carefully marked court. It is a team sport that is commonly found in many different areas. 

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Personal Narrative Essay: My Favourite Sport Is Basketball

Personally, I picked basketball to be the skill I talked about today because of my love for the game. I think that basketball is one of the greatest inventions ever to be made. There’re so many people in the world that love basketball. I have been watching, playing and been around basketball since I was around 6 years old and I never plan on stopping either. I loved especially shooting and dribbling. Playing in high school definitely was the best experience ever. The great game of basketball can be mastered through hard work, shooting, and dribbling.  

First, when it comes to basketball learning to shoot is a key factor. The way that my dad who taught and coached me until I reached high school was to make sure that you make a 90-degree angle with your arm and to keep your elbow tucked in. A couple things to think about when learning to shoot is to aim at your target, have slightly bent knees, and then jump forward and follow through with you shot. When you go to shoot have your legs shoulder width apart and then have them also slightly staggered. Then bend your knees just a little. Then lastly, when you're going to shoot jump in the air, keep your back straight and then follow through with your shoot.  

In addition, learning how to dribble is also one of the most important factors into playing. When first learning to dribble it may be difficult and take a lot of ball watching. The most key factor to dribbling is to always have your fingertips close the ball. A way that I was taught to dribble was to learn first how to relax your fingers and just tap the basketball repeatedly. At first, you’ll probably lose the ball a lot while trying to dribble. But overtime you start to really get the hang of it. Another tip when learning at first, is to relax your body and bend your knees. Then, when you really start to get more advanced you can start to learn how to protect the ball from the defenders and to keep your eyes. 

Lastly, the hard work and dedication you put into the game will eventually give back to you. When growing up watching and playing basketball, I’ve learned by watching that the handwork and dedication you put into the game it will put back. An example, would be someone that’s in the NBA, they put endless hours into the game while the game also put endless hours into them and it shows in the effort and dedication, they put into the sport. When I was younger, I never understood when my dad was trying to always go shoot at the gym or go dribbling around the court. But when I became to get older, the more I understood what it was all for. Over the years, playing competitively and all over the US, I started realizing how everyone all over the world really puts in a lot of work into this sport. I didn’t start to really work hard until I reached about 12 or 13. I then really started to get more into basketball whether it was just to go shoot or watch high school games. I always noticed when you play the sport you really have to give it your all no matter whether it’s practice or a game. It just makes you so much better in the future and more prepared. Hard work is something that can’t be taken lightly when it comes to basketball or sports in general. It’s something that will really always pay off in the end.  

In conclusion, I think that basketball is a very articulate sport and it takes a lot of patience and instincts when playing. Whether it’s training or practicing, you always tend to find something you're not very strong in or the best but with the hard work put into that certain thing it could turn out to be that you just needed work and to tweak a few things before it connected. I really believe that hard work and perfecting anything you can will always make you have an edge over your opponent. In overall, it takes a lot of patience when first learning how to dribble or shoot. It may make you frustrated or mad at times but you just always have to think about how all the work you put in will always pay off.

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Essays About Basketball: Top 5 Examples and 7 Prompts

Among the many essays about basketball out there, how can you make yours stand out? See this article for examples and prompts that will aid you in writing.

Basketball is a famous sport that has been around for 131 years. It was invented by a Canadian physical education instructor named James Naismith with two objectives: to keep athletes playing indoors during winters and to have a safer sport compared to football.

Over the years, basketball has grown to be a loved sport worldwide. It’s why it’s not surprising that it’s a great subject to talk about in your essay.

Below are examples to learn more about the game and how you can effectively write essays about basketball:

1. What Basketball Taught Me by Josh of San Diego, California

2. essay on basketball –  a sport of agility and endurance by randhir singh, 3. national basketball association and the woman national basketball association by lewis rios, 4. basketball: then vs. now by jaime moss, 5. essay on the last shot by darcy frey by mamie olson, 1. the most important skills for basketball, 2. what i learned through basketball, 3. why do i like basketball, 4. my unforgettable basketball experience, 5. my life as a basketball player, 6. basketball book or movie review, 7. the negative side of basketball.

“I believe basketball has taught me many valuable life lessons, and perhaps more importantly, played a significant role in developing me into the successful student and employee I am today.”

The author talks about how he fell in love with the basketball game – from watching it on television to participating in competitive basketball. He took the game with him as he grew. 

Through this sport, he learned many lessons, including commitment, responsibility, and teamwork. He expounds on how these values helped him through life through his essay. Finally, he ends his piece by encouraging others to try basketball or any sport to have motivation in life. For more, see these articles about basketball .

“Basketball is a sport of agility and endurance that develops by hand and eye co-ordination… Basketball even overtakes baseball as the unofficial American pastime.”

Singh reviews basketball rules and how they changed over time but with the same principles. He discusses the main rules and scenarios straightforwardly, making his essay short but informative. You may also be interested in these articles about baseball .

“Some of the differences between NBA basketball and WNBA basketball appear to be related to the differences in size or physical capacity of men and women… I think we can all come to the conclusion that no matter what the gender is or what the rules are, that both of them are out on the basketball court to just WIN.”

Rios’ essay focuses on the differences between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Women’s NBA. Some of the things he mentions are ESPN and their basketball video game, where fewer people spend time on WNBA. Additionally, owners of WNBA significantly make less from their teams, thus having less to invest in or pay their players.

He also talks about some similarities between NBA and WNBA, including their popularity among fans. At the end of his essay, Rios hopes he has shared enough information with his readers about basketball.

“Other changes such as uniform colors, dunking rules, regulation on backboards… some over and over again until they became what they are today… Basketball is a great American sport, and perhaps one that requires the most skill along with a great mental game.”

Moss’ essay consists of James Naismith’s original 13 basketball rules and how these rules evolved. These modifications were done to make the game more efficient and fun. Some significant changes include dribbling, boundary lines, and pointing systems. 

He also mentions the controversy surrounding the three-pointer and how it affected the other game rules. In the future, basketball’s rules will continue to develop.

“I do think basketball is a valid option for most students to escape poverty… Basketball may open a few doors but there’s still no guarantee.”

The author recounts what The Last Shot by Darcy Frey is all about, retelling the story of Russel, Tchaka, Stephon, and Cory, who lived in a dangerous neighborhood and found escape in basketball. She then relays her input of basketball, helping these characters stay out of trouble, but it still isn’t enough to prepare them for the lives they’ll have to endure. 

She further expounds on the events in the book, centering on the direct relation between academics and basketball in the story. You might also be interested in these essays about volleyball .

7 Prompts on Essays About Basketball

After understanding more about the different subtopics of basketball, here are prompts that you can get inspiration from for your essay:

You don’t have to be a basketball player to know what skills are in demand for the game. You can simply be a fan or a casual spectator who knows how the game works. Tell your readers what you are so they can appreciate your essay from your point of view. 

Dedication, commitment, and consistency are only some of the things you develop when you love a sport. If you’re not a player yourself, but a close relative is, you can relay what they told you about basketball.

For example, you can relate to what your father tells you when you watch basketball gameplays with him. He may say he loves a particular team because of their teamwork. He may also say it shows in their gameplay. Then, you can delve into what “teamwork” means.

Like the other prompts in this list, this particular prompt doesn’t need you to be a player. Instead, to give you an idea, you can share your experience with the game, such as watching gameplay and liking how the people cheer for the players.

 You can also narrate how great the game was, not because the players are professionals but because they never give up.

If you’re a basketball player yourself, feel free to recount a scene that played out in one of your games that you will never forget. Describe how you got to that point and why. Include what it made you feel like then and what it makes you feel now. 

If you expect non-players to read your piece, write in a way that non-players will understand by avoiding basketball jargon. Or you can briefly explain what those related terms mean, so every reader will understand why it’s a memory you hold dear.

If no one thing stands out for you during your time as a basketball player, you can still write about it in the general term. For instance, you can share how a day in your life went when you were a player.

There are many books, movies, and literary pieces that you can check out and write an essay about. If you have a favorite piece about basketball, briefly summarize it and list why you’re so fond of it. You can also persuade your readers to check out the book themselves through these prompts.

Are you new to persuasive writing? For help with this topic, read our guide explaining what is persuasive writing ?

You can write about the problems connected to the game to give your essay a different atmosphere, such as the potential injuries for players, bullying within a team, or how few only make it to professional basketball. You can talk about something you want to give attention to and let your readers know your thoughts on it.

On the other hand, you can also share a bad experience related to basketball, like your father preferring to watch basketball on television than play with you and your siblings.

Here’s a great tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Publications, let me enfold thee, an essay on basketball by gonzaga faculty member shann ray ferch.

Let me enfold thee, and hold thee to my heart. Shakespeare

What is it like to be a college basketball player?

Probably quite a bit similar to what it’s like being a college student, or a dancer, a poet, or a scientist. College basketball involves a great dream. We might say the dream is life, and then we might wonder, what does life ask of us? The answer may mean the difference between despair and hope; or the distance, nuanced, oblique, between darkness and light; or the resolution and peace that come of being in the presence of beloved others who have loved us and changed us forever.

Gonzaga University has enjoyed a sustained and by some accounts miraculous journey into the heart of college basketball. For those who love basketball and have been graced to witness the journey, there remains both the beauty and vigor of excellence developed over many days, months, and years, and also the ultimate dream of the sport: the possibility of a National Championship. At each level of competitive basketball every player who seeks a higher goal holds the dream of a championship very close. Whether or not the dream is realized is a matter left to the dynamic interplay of devotion, fortitude, chemistry, chance, fate, and luck.

This essay* is a mosaic of my own experiences playing basketball in high school, college, and in the German Bundesliga, and finding myself on the other side of the dream, held by even greater dreams about love, forgiveness, reconciliation, wholeness, and the mystery of the Divine.

* Parts of this essay appeared previously in Narrative Magazine and the book Blood Fire Vapor Smoke

In the dark I still line up the seams of the ball to the form of my fingers. I see the rim, the follow-through, the arm lifted and extended, a pure jump shot with a clean release and good form. I see the long-range trajectory and the ball on a slow backspin arcing toward the hoop, the net waiting for the swish.

In Montana, high school basketball is a thing as strong as family or work and when I grew up Jonathan Takes Enemy, a member of the Apsaalooké (Crow) Nation, was the best basketball player in the state. He led Hardin High, a school with years of losing tradition, into the state spotlight, carrying the team and the community on his shoulders all the way to the state tournament where he averaged 41 points per game. He created legendary moments that decades later are still mentioned in state basketball circles, and he did so with a force that made me both fear and respect him. On the court, nothing was outside the realm of his skill: the jump shot, the drive, the sweeping left-handed finger roll, the deep fade-away jumper. He could deliver what we all dreamed of, and with a venom that said don’t get in my way.

I was a year younger than Jonathan, playing for an all-white school in Livingston when our teams met in the divisional tournament and he and the Hardin Bulldogs delivered us a crushing 17-point defeat. At the close of the third quarter with the clock winding down and his team with a comfortable lead, Takes Enemy pulled up from one step in front of half-court and shot a straight, clean jumper. Though the range of it was more than 20 feet beyond the three-point line, his form remained pure. The audacity and raw beauty of the shot hushed the crowd. A common knowledge came to everyone: few people can even throw a basketball that far with any accuracy, let alone take a real shot with good form. Takes Enemy landed and as the ball was in the air he turned, no longer watching the flight of the ball, and began to walk back toward his team bench. The buzzer sounded, he put his fist high, the shot swished into the net. The crowd erupted.

Many of these young men did not escape the violence that surrounded the alcohol and drug traffic on the reservations, but their natural flow on the court inspired me toward the kind of boldness that gives artistry and freedom to any endeavor. Such boldness is akin to passion. For these young men, and for myself at that time, our passion was basketball.

But rather than creating in me my own intrepid response, seeing Takes Enemy only emphasized how little I knew of courage, not just on the basketball court, but in life. Takes Enemy breathed a confidence I lacked, a leadership potential that lived and moved. Robert Greenleaf said, “A mark of leaders, an attribute that puts them in a position to show the way for others, is that they are better than most at pointing the direction.” Takes Enemy was better than most. He and his team worked as one as they played with fluidity and abandon. I began to look for this way of life as an athlete and as a person. The search brought me to people who lived life not through dominance or coercion but through love and freedom of movement.

In the half dark of the house, a light burning over my shoulder, I find myself asking who commandeers the vessels of our dreams? I see Jonathan Takes Enemy like a war horse running, fierce and filled with immense power. The question gives me pause to remember him and his artistry, and how he played for something more.

By the time my brother Kral and I reached high school, we both had the dream, Kral already on his way to the top, me two years younger and trying to learn everything I could. We’d received the dream equally from our father and from the rez, the Crow rez at Plenty Coups, and the Tsitsistas (Northern Cheyenne) rez in the southeast corner of Montana. In Montana tribal basketball is a game of speed and precision passing, a form of controlled wildness that is hard to come by in non-reservation basketball circles. Fast and quick-handed, the rez ballers rise like something elemental, finding each other with sleight of hand stylings and no-look passes, pressing and cutting in stream-like movements that converge to rivers, taking down passing lanes with no will but to create chaos and action and fury, the kind of kindle that smolders and leaps up to set whole forests aflame.

Kral and I lost the dream late, both having made it to the D-1 level, both with opportunity to play overseas, but neither of us making the NBA.

Along the way, I helped fulfill our father’s tenacious hopes: two state championships at Park High in Livingston, one first as a sophomore with Kral, a massive win in which the final score was 104 to 64, with Kral totaling 46 points, 20 rebounds, and three dunks. And one two years later when I was a senior with a band of runners that averaged nearly 90 points a game before there was a three-point line. We took the title in what sportswriters still refer to as the greatest game in Montana high school basketball history, a 99-97 double-overtime thriller in 85’ at the Max Worthington Arena at Montana State University, before a crowd of 10,000.

Afterward on the bus ride through the mountains I remember my chest pressed to the back of the seat as I stared behind us. The post-game show blared over the speakers, everyone still whooping and hollering. “We’re comin’ home!” the radio man yelled, “We’re coming home!” and from the wide back window I saw a line of cars miles long and lit up, snaking from the flat before Livingston all the way up the pass to Bozeman. The dream of a dream, the Niitsítapi and the Apsaalooké, the Blackfeet and the Crow, the Nēhilawē and the Tsitsistas, the Cree and the Northern Cheyenne, the white boys, the enemies and the friends, and the clean line of basketball walking us out toward skeletal hoops in the dead of winter, the hollow in our eyes lonely but lovely in its way.

At Montana State University, I played shooting guard on the last team in the league my freshman year. Our team: seven Black men from all across America and five White kids mostly from Montana. We had a marvelous, magical point guard from Portland named Tony Hampton. He was lightning fast with wonderful ball-handling skills and exceptional court vision. He brought us together with seven games left in the season. Our record at the time was 7 wins, 16 losses. Last place in the conference. “We are getting shoved down by this coaching staff,” he said, and I remember how the criticism and malice were thick from the coaches. Their jobs were on the line. They’d lost touch with their players. Their players had lost touch with them. Tony said, “We need to band together right now. No one is going to do it for us. Whenever you see a teammate dogged by a coach, go up and give that teammate love. Tell him good job. Keep it up. We’re in this together.”

A team talk like that doesn’t typically change a season.

This one did.

Tony spoke the words. We followed him and did what he asked, and we went on a seven-game win streak, starting that very night when we beat the 17th-ranked team in the country, on the road. The streak didn’t end until the NCAA tournament eight games later. In that stretch, Tony averaged 19 points and 11 assists per game. He led the way and we were unfazed by outside degradation. We had our own inner strength. Playing as one, we won the final three games of the regular season. We entered the Big Sky Conference tournament in last place and beat the fourth-, second-, and first-place teams in the league to advance to March Madness. When we came home from the conference tournament as champions, it felt like the entire town of Bozeman was at the airport to greet us. We waded through a river of people giving high fives and held a fiery pep rally with speeches and roars of applause.

We went on to the NCAA tournament as the last-ranked team, the 64th team in a tournament which at that time had only 64 teams. We were slated to play St. John’s, the number one team in the nation. We faced off in the first game of the southwest regional at Long Beach, and far into the second half we were up by four. St. John’s featured future NBA players Mark Jackson (future NBA All-Star), Walter Berry (collegiate player of the year), and Shelton Jones (future winner of the NBA dunk contest). We featured no one with national recognition. We played well and had the lead late in the second half, but in the end we lost by nine.

When my brother graduated from Montana State I transferred and played my final two seasons of college basketball for Pepperdine University. At that time, Pepperdine had been a league-leading team for many years. Our main rival was Loyola Marymount University, featuring consensus All-American Hank Gathers and the multi-talented scorer Bo Kimble. My senior year at Pepperdine we beat Loyola Marymount 127-114 in a true barn-burner! Also a fine grudge match, considering they beat us earlier in the season at their place. We were set to play each other in the championship game of the West Coast Conference tournament but before we could meet at the top of the bracket, Hank died, and the tournament was immediately canceled.

The funeral was in Los Angeles, a ceremony of gut-wrenching grief and bereavement in which we gathered to honor one of the nation’s young most-radiant men. We prayed for him and for his family and for all who would come after him bearing his legacy of love for the game, elite athleticism, and the gift of living life to the full. His team went on to the NCAA tournament and made it all the way to the Elite 8. Bo Kimble shot his first free-throw of the NCAA tournament left-handed in honor of Hank. The shot went in. The nation mourned. The athletes who knew Hank were never the same.

As a freshman in high school, I was tiny, barely five feet tall, and my goal was to play Division 1 basketball. I’d had this goal since I was a child and because of my height and weight it seemed impossible, and actually felt impossible. I was small, but I made a deal with myself to do whatever it might take from my end to try to get to the D-1 level, so if I did not accomplish the goal, I knew at least I had given my all. I grew eight inches the summer before my sophomore year in high school, thanked heaven, and began to think perhaps the goal was not totally out of reach.

Hour after hour. Everyday. The dream was now fully formed, bright shining, and excruciating. I played 8 hours per day before my junior year, 10 hours per day before my senior season. At the height of it I played 17 hours in one day. Hours of solitude and physical exhaustion were plentiful. I gave my life to the discipline of being a point guard and a shooting guard. I worked on moves, passing, shooting, defending, ball handling. The regimen involved getting up at 7 a.m. at the singlewide trailer we lived in, on my bike by 7:40, traveling the highway toward Livingston, yellow transistor radio (borrowed from my mom) in the front pocket of my windbreaker, the ball tucked up under the coat, and me riding to Eastside, the court bordered by a grade school to the east, the sheriff’s station and the firehall to the north, and small houses to the west. A few blocks south, the Yellowstone River moved and churned and flowed east. Above the river a wall of mountains reached halfway up the sky.

Mostly I was by myself, but because the town had a love for basketball, there were many hours with friends too. In those moments with others, or isolated hours trying to hone my individual basketball skills, I faced many, many frustrations, but finally the body broke into the delight of hard work and found a rhythm, a pattern in which there was the slow advance toward something greater than oneself. Often the threshold of life is a descent into darkness, a powerful and intimate and abiding darkness in which the light finally emerges.

“Beauty will save the world,” Dostoevsky said.

Because of basketball I know there exists the reality of being encumbered or full of grace, beset with darkness and or in convergence with light. This interplay echoes the wholly realized vision of exceptional point guards and the daring of pure shooting guards, met with fortitude even under immense pressure.

At Eastside, both low end and high end have square metal backboards marked by quarter-sized holes to keep the wind from knocking the baskets down. Livingston is the fifth windiest city in the world. The playground has a slant to it that makes one basket lower than the other. The low end is nine-feet, 10 inches high, and we all come here to throw down in the summer. Too small, they say, but we don’t listen. Inside-outside, between-the-legs, behind-the-back, cross it up, skip-to-my-lou, fake and go, doesn't matter, any of these lose the defender. Then we rise up and throw down. We rig up a break-away on the rim and because of the way we hang on it in the summer, our hands get thick and tough. We can all dunk now, so the break-away is a necessity, a spring-loaded rim made to handle the power of power-dunks. The break-away rim came into being after Darryl Dawkins, nicknamed Chocolate Thunder, broke two of the big glass backboards in the NBA. On the first one Dawkins’ force was so immense the glass caved in and fell out the back of the frame. On the second, the window exploded and everyone ducked their heads and ran to avoid the fractured glass that flew from one end of the court to the other. Within two years every high school in the nation had break-aways, and my friends and I convinced our assistant coach to give us one so we could put it up on the low end at Eastside.

The high end is the shooter's end, made for the pure shooter, a silver ring 10-feet, two inches high with a long white net. At night the car lights bring it alive, rim and backboard like an industrial artwork, everything mounted on a steel-grey pole that stems down into the concrete, down deep into the hard soil.

A senior in high school, I’m 17. I leave the car lights on, cut the engine and grab my basketball from the heat in the passenger foot space. I step out. The air is crisp. The wind carries the cold, dry smell of autumn, and further down, more faint, the smell of roots, the smell of earth. Out over the city, strands of cloud turn grey, then black. When the sun goes down there is a depth of night unfathomable, the darkness rent by a flurry of stars.

I call the ballers by name, the great Native basketball legends, some my own contemporaries, some who came before. I learn from them and receive the river, their smoothness, their brazenness, like the Yellowstone River seven blocks south, dark and wide, stronger than the city it surrounds, perfect in form where it moves and speaks, bound by night. If I listen my heroes lift me out away from here, fly me farther than they flew themselves. In Montana, young men are Native and they are White, loving, hating. At Lodge Grass, at Lame Deer, I was afraid at first. But now I see. The speaking and the listening, the welcoming: Tim Falls Down, Marty Round Face and Max and Luke Spotted Bear from Plenty Coups; Joe Pretty Paint from Lodge Grass; and at St. Labre, Juneau Plenty Hawk, Willie Gardner, and Fred and Paul Deputee. All I loved, all I watched with wonder—and few got free.

Most played ball for my father, a few for rival teams. Some I watched as a child, and I loved the uncontrolled nature of their moves. Some I grew up playing against. And some I merely heard of in basketball circles years later, the rumble of their greatness, the stories of games won or lost on last second shots.

The body in unison, the step, the gather, the arc of the ball in the air like a crescent moon—the follow-through a small well-lit cathedral, the correct push and the floppy wrist, the proper backspin, the arm held high, the night, the ball, the basket, everything illumined.

We are given moments like these, to rise with Highwalker and Falls Down and Spotted Bear, with Round Face and Old Bull and Takes Enemy: to shoot the jump shot and feel the follow through that lifts and finds a path in the air, the sound, the sweetness of the ball on a solitary arc in darkness as the ball falls into the net.

All is complete. The maze lies open, an imprint that reminds me of the Highline, the Blackfeet and Charlie Calf Robe, the Crow and Joe Pretty Paint, the Cheyenne and Highwalker, a form of forms that is a memory trace and the weaving of a line begun by Native men, by White men, by my father and Calf Robe’s and Pretty Paint’s and Highwalker’s fathers, by our fathers’ fathers, and by all the fathers that have gone before, some of them distant and many gone, all of them beautiful in their way.

Fresh from professional ball in Germany I went with my dad to the Charlie Calf Robe Memorial Tournament on the Blackfeet rez in northeast Montana. The tribe devoted an entire halftime to my father and he didn't even coach on that reservation. They presented him with a beaded belt buckle and a blanket for the coaching he’d done on other reservations, the Cheynne rez, the Crow rez—to show their respect for him as an elder who was a friend to the Native Nations of Montana. During the ceremony they wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, signifying he would always be welcome in the tribe.

On that weekend with him, I received an unforeseen wholly unique gift. Dedicated as a memorial to the high school athlete Charlie Calf Robe, a young Blackfeet artist, long distance runner, and basketball player who died young, the tournament was a form of community grieving over the loss of a beloved son. The Most Valuable Player award was made by Charlie’s wife, Honey Davis, who spent nine months crafting an entirely beaded basketball for the event. When the tribe and Honey herself presented the ball to me, and I walked through the gym with my father, an old Blackfeet man approached us. He touched my arm, and smiled a wide smile.

“You can’t dribble that one, sonny” he said.

I saw my father’s father only a handful of times.

He lived in little more than a one room shack in Circle, Montana. In the shack next door was my grandfather’s brother, a trapper who dried animal hides on boards and leaned them against walls and tables. I remember rattlesnake rattles in a small pile on the surface of a wooden three-legged stool. A hunting knife with a horn handle. On the floor, small and medium-sized closed steel traps. An old rifle in the corner near the door.

My father and I drive the two-lane highway as we enter town. We pick up my grandfather stumbling drunk down the middle of the road and take him home.

Years later my grandpa sits in the same worn linoleum kitchen in an old metal chair with vinyl backing. Dim light from the window. His legs crossed, a rolled cigarette lit in his left hand, he runs his right hand through a shock of silver hair atop his head, bangs yellowed by nicotine. Bent or upright or sideways, empty beer cans litter the floor.

“Who is it?” he says, squinting into the dark.

“Tommy,” my dad says, “your son.”

“Who?” the old man says.

When we leave, my grandpa still doesn’t recognize him.

On the way home through the dark, I watch my father’s eyes.

My grandfather was largely isolated late in life. No family members were near him when he died. He once loved to walk the hills after the spring runoff in search of arrowheads with his family. But in my grandpa’s condition before death his desire for life was eclipsed. He became morose and very depressed. In the end, alcohol killed him.

There’s J.P. Batista, a powerful player dubbed “The Beast” when he played here because he could score on anyone, and if he was hungry on the court, which was always, we said “Feed the Beast!” There’s David Pendergraft, perhaps the most beloved generational talent in Gonzaga’s history because he played with unquenchable fire and if he was guarding the best player on the other team, which was nearly always, the other team was in trouble. There’s Ronny Turiaf, a man whose heart was as big as the world, on and off the court. Finally, there’s Mike Nilson, the soul of the first GU teams to break through into the dream of advancing far into March Madness, a beautiful person with uncommon tenacity and loyalty, who serves others with grace and ease. Too many to be named, the players the community has welcomed, known and loved leave a legacy we as dear as any championship run.

In present-day Montana, with its cold winters and far distant towns, the love of high school basketball is a time-honored tradition. Native teams have most often dominated the basketball landscape, winning multiple state titles on the shoulders of modern day warriors who are both highly skilled and intrepid.

Tribal basketball comes like a fresh wind to change the climate of the reservation from downtrodden to celebrational. Plenty Coups with Luke Spotted Bear and Dana Goes Ahead won two state championships in the early eighties. After that, Lodge Grass, under Elvis Old Bull won three straight. Jonathan Takes Enemy remains perhaps the most revered. Deep finger rolls with either hand, his jumpshot a thing of beauty, with his quick vertical leap he threw down 360s, and with power. We played against each other numerous times in high school, his teams still revered by the old guard, a competition fiery and glorious, and then we went our separate ways.

For a few months he attended Sheridan Community College in Wyoming then dropped out.

He played city league, his name appearing in the Billings papers with him scoring over 60 points on occasion, and once 73.

Later I heard he’d done some drinking, gained weight, and become mostly immobile.

But soon after that he cleaned up, lost weight, earned a scholarship at Rocky Mountain College and formed a nice career averaging a bundle of assists and over 20 points a game. A prize-winning article on Takes Enemy appeared in “Sports Illustrated.”

A few years ago we sat down again at a tournament called the Big Sky Games. We didn’t talk much about the past. He’d been off the Crow reservation for awhile, living on the Yakima reservation in Washington. He said he felt he had to leave Montana. He’d found a good job. His vision was on his family. The way his eyes lit up when he spoke of his daughter was a clear reflection of his life, a man willing to sacrifice to enrich others. His face was full of promise, and thinking of her he smiled. “She’ll graduate from high school this year,” he said, and it became apparent to me that the happiness he felt was greater than all the fame that came of the personal honors he had attained.

Jonathan Takes Enemy navigated the personal terrain necessary to be present to to his daughter. I hope to follow him and be present for my daughters. By walking into and through the night he eventually left the dark behind and found light rising to greet him.

Inside me still are the memories of players I knew as a boy, the stories of basketball legends. From Montana, from Gonzaga, from Europe. The geography of such stories still shapes the way I speak or grow quiet, and shapes my understanding of things that begin in fine lines and continue until all the lines are gathered and woven to a greater image. That image, circular, airborne, is the outline and the body of my hope.

The drive is not far and before long I’m at Mission Park. I take the ball from the space in the backseat of my car and walk out onto the court. I approach the top of the key where I bounce the ball twice before I gather and release a high-arcing jumpshot.

Beside me, Blake Walks Nice sends his jumper into the air and Joe Pretty Paint’s follow through stands like the neck of a swan.

The ball falls from the sky toward the open rim and the diamond-patterned net.

Behind us and to the side only darkness.

An arm of steel extends from the high corner of a nearby building.

A light burns there.

As we draw near to another NCAA tournament, I don’t want to forget the dream. The following poem is written in honor of Jose Hernandez, Tony Hampton, Melichi Four Bear, Gernell Killsnight, Jonathan Takes Enemy, Dexter Howard, Doug Christie, J.P. Batista, Ronny Turiaf, David Pendergraft, Mike Nilson, Tim Falls Down, Bobby Jones, Paul Deputee, Blake Walks Nice, Ron Moses and so many other men, each of us inscribed by culture, intuition, race, and love, each of us united by an elegant game, and united by giving ourselves so that others might become more beautiful, more holy. Of the group above, one died a difficult death after years in prison at the outskirts of San Francisco, another was shot in the head by a high-powered rifle at a party near Crow Agency, a third was knifed to death outside Jim Town Bar, a fourth took his own life by hanging, a fifth died of an alcohol-laced car wreck when his vehicle flew from a bridge into a winter river. The rest are still alive. The rest still love with an undying love those who have passed before us to the next world. We receive from them the blessing they give, and we ask God for the mercy to keep the dream.

the way your hands moved through mid-air reaching for round light leather has always been to me not unlike the intimate fusion that connects the core of high magnitude stars

in the place where God shapes bones and ligament, fingers, thumb and palm we hated each other, brother, until basketball made me a point guard and you a swing man flyer who walked on wind

collectively we’d set our bodies to beat one another until our faces cracked like porcelain and blood-rivers ran the cheek-bone shelves of a south sunk in wine-water because America meant us for violence

but better than we knew God knew us and now that the game is over i can’t unremember you enfolding me as I hold you to my heart and you cup your hand to the back of my head

About the Author

Poet and prose writer Shann Ray Ferch teaches leadership and forgiveness studies at Gonzaga University. Ferch is the author of a work of leadership and political theory, Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity: Servant Leadership as a Way of Life (Rowman & Littlefield), and co-editor of Servant-Leadership, Feminism, and Gender Well-Being (SUNY Press), Servant-Leadership and Forgiveness (SUNY Press), Global Servant-Leadership (Rowman &Littlefield), Conversations on Servant Leadership (SUNY Press) and The Spirit of Servant Leadership (Paulist Press). In his role as professor of leadership studies with the internationally renowned PhD program in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga, he has served as a visiting scholar in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. His novel, American Copper (Unbridled Press), is a love song to America revealing the radiant and profound life of Evelynne Lowry, a woman who transcends the national myth of regeneration through violence. The novel won the Foreword Book of the Year Readers’ Choice Award and the Western Writers of America Spur Award, and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, the High Plains Book Award and the Foreword Book of the Year Award for Literary Fiction. Explore more of his writing here . 

• Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership Studies

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Competitive Sports — Basketball History: The Evolution of Basketball Throughout the Years

Basketball History: The Evolution of Basketball Throughout The Years

• Categories: Competitive Sports

About this sample

Words: 1061 |

Published: Aug 23, 2018

Words: 1061 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Works Cited

• Talion, B. (2010). James Naismith: Inventing basketball. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Naismith
• Wolff, A. (2002). James Naismith and his game of basketball. Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved from https://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/james-naismith/
• Talion, B. (2002). Basketball: A Canadian Invention. Canadian Journal for Traditional Music, 30(2), 50-65.
• Weber, R. J. (2006). A Brief History of Basketball. Journal of Sport History, 33(1), 111-118.
• McLendon, C. (1996). The James Naismith story: The man who invented basketball. University of Illinois Press.
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hoophall.com/
• Basketball-Reference.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.basketball-reference.com/
• The Official Site of the National Basketball Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nba.com/
• International Basketball Federation (FIBA). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fiba.basketball/
• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ncaa.com/

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Essay on My Favourite Sport Basketball

Students are often asked to write an essay on My Favourite Sport Basketball in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on My Favourite Sport Basketball

Introduction.

Basketball, my favourite sport, is a captivating game that requires agility, coordination, and teamwork.

Why I Love Basketball

What makes basketball special is its fast-paced nature. It’s thrilling to watch the ball move swiftly across the court, with players strategizing to outwit their opponents.

Learning from Basketball

Basketball teaches me the importance of teamwork and perseverance. Even when we’re trailing, we never give up, always striving for a comeback.

Basketball is more than just a sport to me. It’s a blend of excitement, learning, and a source of immense joy.

250 Words Essay on My Favourite Sport Basketball

Basketball, a sport that transcends boundaries, has always been my favourite. Its unique blend of teamwork, strategy, and individual skill captivates me. The game is not just about scoring points; it’s a metaphor for life’s challenges and victories.

The Essence of Teamwork

Basketball emphasizes the power of unity and collaboration. Similar to life, it requires a collective effort to achieve a common goal. Each player has a unique role, mirroring the diversity of skills in any community or organization. This aspect of the game has taught me the value of every individual’s contribution towards a shared objective.

Strategy and Execution

The game is a perfect blend of strategic planning and seamless execution. It reflects the importance of both mental and physical prowess. The tactical aspect of basketball, where every decision can turn the tide, has helped me understand the significance of strategic thinking in life.

Individual Skill and Persistence

Basketball also highlights the importance of individual skill and persistence. The ability to perform under pressure, the relentless pursuit of improvement, and the resilience to bounce back from failures are all critical elements of the game. These are also essential traits for personal and professional success.

In conclusion, basketball is not just a game for me; it’s a life teacher. It has shaped my understanding of teamwork, strategy, and the value of individual skills. The sport has been a constant source of motivation, pushing me to strive for excellence in all aspects of life.

500 Words Essay on My Favourite Sport Basketball

Basketball, a sport that has significantly shaped my life and personality, is my favourite sport. It is an incredibly dynamic game that requires both physical prowess and strategic thinking. The amalgamation of teamwork, strategy, skill, and thrill makes basketball an exciting sport that offers more than just physical exercise.

Why Basketball?

Basketball is a game that demands a blend of speed, agility, power, precision, and endurance. It is not merely about scoring; it is about coordination, cooperation, and commitment. The game teaches life lessons in leadership, teamwork, and resilience. It’s a test of one’s ability to think on their feet, to strategize in real-time, and to cooperate with teammates to outsmart the opponents.

The Thrill of the Game

The thrill of the game is one aspect that sets basketball apart. The last-minute shots, the suspense of a tight match, and the euphoria of a well-executed play make it a rollercoaster of emotions. The sound of the ball hitting the net, the cheers of the crowd, and the satisfaction of a successful shot are moments of pure joy that basketball lovers cherish.

Basketball and Personal Development

Basketball has significantly contributed to my personal development. It has instilled in me a sense of discipline, sportsmanship, and respect for others. It has taught me the importance of perseverance, determination, and hard work. The sport has also enhanced my decision-making skills and ability to work under pressure.

Lessons Beyond the Court

Basketball goes beyond the court; it is a reflection of life. It teaches us that success comes to those who work hard, stay focused, and play by the rules. It shows us that teamwork often triumphs over individual brilliance. It reminds us that failures are stepping stones to success and that every setback is a setup for a comeback.

In conclusion, basketball is not just a sport; it is a lifestyle, a passion, a teacher, and a source of joy. It is a game that brings people together, fostering a sense of community and camaraderie. My love for basketball stems from the thrill, the lessons it imparts, and the personal development it fosters. It is a sport that has given me much more than I could ever give it.

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Improving Practice and Performance in Basketball

Basketball is ranked in the top three team sports for participation in the Americas, Australia, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific nations, making it one of the most popular team sports worldwide [ 1 ]. The physical demands and high popularity of basketball present a wide range of potential applications in society. At one end, basketball may offer a vehicle to combat high inactivity rates and reduce economic health burdens for government officials and health administrators in many countries due to the popularity of the game combined with the evidence supporting recreational basketball eliciting intense physical demands with low perceptual demand [ 2 ]. At the other end, professional basketball competitions have emerged in over 100 countries with more than 70,000 professional players globally [ 3 ], creating a lucrative business that provides legitimate career pathways for players and entertainment for billions of people. Despite the wide range in application, it is surprising how little research has been conducted in basketball relative to other sports. For instance, a rudimentary search on PubMed showed basketball to yield considerably less returns than other sports with a similar global reach and comparable returns to sports governed in less regions of the world ( Table 1 ). Consequently, we sought to edit a Special Issue on “Improving Practice and Performance in Basketball” to provide a collection of studies from basketball researchers across the world and increase available evidence on pertinent topics in the sport. In total, 40 researchers from 16 institutions or professional bodies across nine countries contributed 10 studies in the Special Issue.

Returns on Scopus for basketball relative to other sports.

Note: Search conducted on August 9th 2019 via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ and was restricted to past five years. * The number of countries identified as members by the international governing body; † field hockey included 137 member countries, while ice hockey included 76 member countries; ‡ rugby union included 119 member countries, while rugby league included 68 member countries.

Most research conducted in basketball has focused on athletic populations. For instance, a review of the 228 studies returned on PubMed for “basketball” in 2019 (up to August 9th) indicates over 25% of studies focused on the incidence, treatment, rehabilitation, or screening of injuries, while 11% of studies described physical, fitness, or functional attributes in competitive basketball players. These trends emphasize the strong interest in understanding injury prevention and treatment in basketball, as well as attributes which may underpin successful players, both of which are oriented towards optimizing player and team performance. Regarding enhancing performance, an increasingly popular field of research in basketball is examining monitoring methods (7% of PubMed studies in 2019) to better understand demands placed on players across the season and provide evidence for decision-making regarding player management. Several reviews have recently been published highlighting the interest in quantifying game [ 4 ] and training demands [ 5 ], using heart rate monitoring [ 6 ], and applying microsensors to measure player workloads [ 7 ] in competitive basketball. Available monitoring technologies provide basketball coaches and high-performance staff with a plethora of data regarding player fitness, workloads, and fatigue status to inform decisions regarding training prescription and recovery opportunities for minimizing injury risk and optimizing performance. In turn, basketball research has readily used game-related statistics (3% of PubMed studies in 2019) to describe player and team performance, which provide an expansive reservoir of data, usually publicly available, to link outcomes of interest to performance. Consequently, our Special Issue was open to research exploring various current topics that have potential to impact practice in basketball.

In keeping with the recent trends in basketball research, the Special Issue contains two reviews with one focused on exploring the utility of various monitoring strategies to detect player fatigue [ 8 ] and the other identifying issues to consider around the extensive travelling requirements in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the premier global basketball competition [ 9 ]. Both reviews highlight the practical aspects relating fatigue and travel in basketball, including potential implications for injury, workload management, recovery, and assessment in players. Furthermore, two applied studies in the Special Issue examine workload monitoring in basketball, with one exploring the impact of game scheduling on accelerometer-derived workload [ 10 ] and the other examining changes in jump kinetics and perceptual workload across the season [ 11 ]. An additional three studies in the Special Issue identified game-related statistics explaining game outcomes and regional differences in various elite competitions (Olympics [ 12 ], EuroBasket [ 13 ], and Continental Championships [ 14 ]). The remaining three studies described physical [ 15 , 16 ] and skill [ 17 ] attributes in various player samples. It should also be noted our Special Issue addresses an important issue of increasing research in female athletes, who have traditionally been under-represented in the literature compared to male basketball players, with seven of the eight original studies (88%) containing female basketball players.

The immediate future of basketball research in high-performance settings is highlighted by issues faced in practice. Specifically, key players are missing games or being rested for “load management” in the NBA to reduce player injury risk, despite some initial evidence suggesting greater rest during the regular season (6 ± 1 vs 1 ± 1 games) does not reduce injury incidence or performance in the playoffs [ 18 ]. Likewise, condensed game schedules [ 19 ] and the total minutes played in individual games [ 20 ] have been shown to have no significant effects on injury risk in NBA players. In contrast, other research suggests the total number of games played in a season impacts injury risk in the NBA [ 21 ], highlighting the need for further research on this topic to gather a definitive understanding regarding the effects of managing player workloads on injury risk. In fact, more research needs to build upon the extensive descriptive evidence already available and identify modifiable factors contributing to injuries in basketball players for coaches and high-performance staff to control risk as much as possible. In addition to injury, future basketball research should seek to further examine the efficacy of logical and practical intervention strategies on player performance. For example, an increasing number of studies are examining the utility of different training approaches, including resistance training [ 22 ], court-based conditioning [ 23 ], and games-based drills [ 5 ], as well as nutritional strategies [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ] and recovery practices [ 28 ] on performance outcomes. Furthermore, it is integral for future research assessing player performance to use basketball-specific assessments. In this regard, more research is recognizing the need for greater specificity in measuring performance in basketball, with an increased number of studies exploring the utility of basketball-specific testing protocols to assess relevant physical attributes [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ] as well as in-game statistics [ 33 ] and workloads [ 34 ] to quantify player performance in a robust manner with increased application to actual competition.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

St. Joe’s hoops star Erik Reynolds II is sticking with the Hawks, who could be A-10 favorites in 2024-25

Reynolds’ decision was the key to the offseason for St. Joe’s.

Erik Reynolds II said he never considered leaving St. Joseph’s . His social media posts Wednesday, he said, were “just to clear the air for everybody.”

The biggest domino of the St. Joe’s men’s basketball offseason fell Wednesday morning, when Reynolds, the Hawks’ two-time all-conference guard, announced he was staying on Hawk Hill for his final season of eligibility. Reynolds made the announcement on social media with an image that read: “Play for the name on the front and they’ll remember the name on the back.”

That he even had to make the announcement is a glimpse into today’s college basketball world, when most good players outside of the Power 6 conferences are expected to head elsewhere. More than 1,800 men’s basketball players were in the transfer portal, which closes to entrants May 1.

For Reynolds, it was coach Billy Lange and the staff, and the community at the school, that made his decision an easy one.

“It’s hard to get away from people who care about you and care about elevating your game,” he said.

“It’s so much love here, and I just really appreciate it and it gives me a stronger chip on my shoulder to play for them. It makes me feel more confident in a way.”

Reynolds posted 17.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 38% from three-point range last season. He helped lead St. Joe’s to the inaugural Big 5 Classic championship and a run to the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals .

Reynolds would have been a hot commodity in the transfer market and could have commanded a lot of money via name, image, and likeness deals. St. Joe’s has been competitive on that front and in the future will have even more resources — the Hawks in 2025-26 and 2026-67 will play in the newly formed Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, where every competing team reportedly will receive $1 million in NIL money for participating.

“I’m not really chasing the money side of things,” Reynolds said. “It’s really solely about basketball for me. Yes, those things are a part of this world, 100%. St. Joe’s definitely has a good NIL background, so I’m well taken care of and I’m comfortable where I am.”

As for next season’s roster, Reynolds’ return leaves the Hawks in good shape. The Hawks lost a few players in the portal — Lynn Greer III, Christ Essandoko, Kacper Klaczek, and Christian Winborne — but brought in South Jersey guard Derek Simpson , who played two seasons at Rutgers.

» READ MORE: St. Joe’s strong Atlantic 10 run shows these Hawks are ‘headed in the right direction’

About an hour after Reynolds’ announcement, Greer committed to Temple , where his father played and is now on the coaching staff .

The Hawks likely will have a three-player backcourt with A-10 freshman of the year Xzayvier Brown anchoring a group that features Reynolds and Simpson. Sophomore forward Rasheer Fleming, a Camden grad who greatly improved in 2023-24, will lead a frontcourt that has a lot of potential. Anthony Finkley and Shawn Simmons II, both Philadelphians, got valuable playing time as freshmen, and redshirt freshman Dasear Haskins, also of Camden High School, will be in the mix. St. Joe’s also recently got a commitment from Steven Solano, a 7-foot incoming freshman.

It’s April, and the 2024-25 season is still more than six months away, but Reynolds’ return likely makes St. Joe’s among the A-10 favorites.

“This year we’re probably going to play faster, believe it or not,” Reynolds said with a laugh.

St. Joe’s already plays pretty fast and shoots a lot of three-pointers . The key to it all working, however, was Reynolds’ return.

He had heard from others, including Greer, who started his college career at Dayton, what transferring was all about.

“The common theme was: the portal is crazy,” Reynolds said. “That’s what I kept hearing. It was just something I wouldn’t want to be associated with or deal with it.

“Another thing I would tell my teammates and other people is I wouldn’t commit somewhere where I feel like I would leave. I wouldn’t come and play for a coach where I feel like I would leave. That’s why I took that initial recruiting process so seriously so I wouldn’t be put in a position to do that.”

Reynolds faced similar speculation last year, that he was expected to leave St. Joe’s and chase a higher level of college basketball. The reasons he’s staying for his senior year mimic the same reasons he gave a year ago: the coaching staff, the people, the school.

At the center of it all is Lange.

“That man right there has done some great things for me, and I’m really appreciative of him,” Reynolds said. “He’s helped me every year with a lot of things, not even just basketball … making sure my mentals are OK. There’s a lot of factors that Coach Lange has done for me, and it really feeds into why I’m committed to him and this program.

“He did a lot for me, and he’s continuing to do a lot for me.”

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How Pew Research Center will report on generations moving forward

Journalists, researchers and the public often look at society through the lens of generation, using terms like Millennial or Gen Z to describe groups of similarly aged people. This approach can help readers see themselves in the data and assess where we are and where we’re headed as a country.

Pew Research Center has been at the forefront of generational research over the years, telling the story of Millennials as they came of age politically and as they moved more firmly into adult life . In recent years, we’ve also been eager to learn about Gen Z as the leading edge of this generation moves into adulthood.

But generational research has become a crowded arena. The field has been flooded with content that’s often sold as research but is more like clickbait or marketing mythology. There’s also been a growing chorus of criticism about generational research and generational labels in particular.

Recently, as we were preparing to embark on a major research project related to Gen Z, we decided to take a step back and consider how we can study generations in a way that aligns with our values of accuracy, rigor and providing a foundation of facts that enriches the public dialogue.

A typical generation spans 15 to 18 years. As many critics of generational research point out, there is great diversity of thought, experience and behavior within generations.

We set out on a yearlong process of assessing the landscape of generational research. We spoke with experts from outside Pew Research Center, including those who have been publicly critical of our generational analysis, to get their take on the pros and cons of this type of work. We invested in methodological testing to determine whether we could compare findings from our earlier telephone surveys to the online ones we’re conducting now. And we experimented with higher-level statistical analyses that would allow us to isolate the effect of generation.

What emerged from this process was a set of clear guidelines that will help frame our approach going forward. Many of these are principles we’ve always adhered to , but others will require us to change the way we’ve been doing things in recent years.

Here’s a short overview of how we’ll approach generational research in the future:

We’ll only do generational analysis when we have historical data that allows us to compare generations at similar stages of life. When comparing generations, it’s crucial to control for age. In other words, researchers need to look at each generation or age cohort at a similar point in the life cycle. (“Age cohort” is a fancy way of referring to a group of people who were born around the same time.)

When doing this kind of research, the question isn’t whether young adults today are different from middle-aged or older adults today. The question is whether young adults today are different from young adults at some specific point in the past.

To answer this question, it’s necessary to have data that’s been collected over a considerable amount of time – think decades. Standard surveys don’t allow for this type of analysis. We can look at differences across age groups, but we can’t compare age groups over time.

Another complication is that the surveys we conducted 20 or 30 years ago aren’t usually comparable enough to the surveys we’re doing today. Our earlier surveys were done over the phone, and we’ve since transitioned to our nationally representative online survey panel , the American Trends Panel . Our internal testing showed that on many topics, respondents answer questions differently depending on the way they’re being interviewed. So we can’t use most of our surveys from the late 1980s and early 2000s to compare Gen Z with Millennials and Gen Xers at a similar stage of life.

This means that most generational analysis we do will use datasets that have employed similar methodologies over a long period of time, such as surveys from the U.S. Census Bureau. A good example is our 2020 report on Millennial families , which used census data going back to the late 1960s. The report showed that Millennials are marrying and forming families at a much different pace than the generations that came before them.

Even when we have historical data, we will attempt to control for other factors beyond age in making generational comparisons. If we accept that there are real differences across generations, we’re basically saying that people who were born around the same time share certain attitudes or beliefs – and that their views have been influenced by external forces that uniquely shaped them during their formative years. Those forces may have been social changes, economic circumstances, technological advances or political movements.

When we see that younger adults have different views than their older counterparts, it may be driven by their demographic traits rather than the fact that they belong to a particular generation.

The tricky part is isolating those forces from events or circumstances that have affected all age groups, not just one generation. These are often called “period effects.” An example of a period effect is the Watergate scandal, which drove down trust in government among all age groups. Differences in trust across age groups in the wake of Watergate shouldn’t be attributed to the outsize impact that event had on one age group or another, because the change occurred across the board.

Changing demographics also may play a role in patterns that might at first seem like generational differences. We know that the United States has become more racially and ethnically diverse in recent decades, and that race and ethnicity are linked with certain key social and political views. When we see that younger adults have different views than their older counterparts, it may be driven by their demographic traits rather than the fact that they belong to a particular generation.

Controlling for these factors can involve complicated statistical analysis that helps determine whether the differences we see across age groups are indeed due to generation or not. This additional step adds rigor to the process. Unfortunately, it’s often absent from current discussions about Gen Z, Millennials and other generations.

When we can’t do generational analysis, we still see value in looking at differences by age and will do so where it makes sense. Age is one of the most common predictors of differences in attitudes and behaviors. And even if age gaps aren’t rooted in generational differences, they can still be illuminating. They help us understand how people across the age spectrum are responding to key trends, technological breakthroughs and historical events.

Each stage of life comes with a unique set of experiences. Young adults are often at the leading edge of changing attitudes on emerging social trends. Take views on same-sex marriage , for example, or attitudes about gender identity .

Many middle-aged adults, in turn, face the challenge of raising children while also providing care and support to their aging parents. And older adults have their own obstacles and opportunities. All of these stories – rooted in the life cycle, not in generations – are important and compelling, and we can tell them by analyzing our surveys at any given point in time.

When we do have the data to study groups of similarly aged people over time, we won’t always default to using the standard generational definitions and labels. While generational labels are simple and catchy, there are other ways to analyze age cohorts. For example, some observers have suggested grouping people by the decade in which they were born. This would create narrower cohorts in which the members may share more in common. People could also be grouped relative to their age during key historical events (such as the Great Recession or the COVID-19 pandemic) or technological innovations (like the invention of the iPhone).

By choosing not to use the standard generational labels when they’re not appropriate, we can avoid reinforcing harmful stereotypes or oversimplifying people’s complex lived experiences.

Existing generational definitions also may be too broad and arbitrary to capture differences that exist among narrower cohorts. A typical generation spans 15 to 18 years. As many critics of generational research point out, there is great diversity of thought, experience and behavior within generations. The key is to pick a lens that’s most appropriate for the research question that’s being studied. If we’re looking at political views and how they’ve shifted over time, for example, we might group people together according to the first presidential election in which they were eligible to vote.

With these considerations in mind, our audiences should not expect to see a lot of new research coming out of Pew Research Center that uses the generational lens. We’ll only talk about generations when it adds value, advances important national debates and highlights meaningful societal trends.

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Kim Parker is director of social trends research at Pew Research Center

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An NPR editor who wrote a critical essay on the company has resigned after being suspended

FILE - The headquarters for National Public Radio (NPR) stands on North Capitol Street on April 15, 2013, in Washington. A National Public Radio editor who wrote an essay criticizing his employer for promoting liberal reviews resigned on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, a day after it was revealed that he had been suspended. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) — A National Public Radio editor who wrote an essay criticizing his employer for promoting liberal views resigned on Wednesday, attacking NPR’s new CEO on the way out.

Uri Berliner, a senior editor on NPR’s business desk, posted his resignation letter on X, formerly Twitter, a day after it was revealed that he had been suspended for five days for violating company rules about outside work done without permission.

“I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems” written about in his essay, Berliner said in his resignation letter.

Katherine Maher, a former tech executive appointed in January as NPR’s chief executive, has been criticized by conservative activists for social media messages that disparaged former President Donald Trump. The messages predated her hiring at NPR.

NPR’s public relations chief said the organization does not comment on individual personnel matters.

The suspension and subsequent resignation highlight the delicate balance that many U.S. news organizations and their editorial employees face. On one hand, as journalists striving to produce unbiased news, they’re not supposed to comment on contentious public issues; on the other, many journalists consider it their duty to critique their own organizations’ approaches to journalism when needed.

In his essay , written for the online Free Press site, Berliner said NPR is dominated by liberals and no longer has an open-minded spirit. He traced the change to coverage of Trump’s presidency.

“There’s an unspoken consensus about the stories we should pursue and how they should be framed,” he wrote. “It’s frictionless — one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad and the dire threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line.”

He said he’d brought up his concerns internally and no changes had been made, making him “a visible wrong-thinker at a place I love.”

In the essay’s wake, NPR top editorial executive, Edith Chapin, said leadership strongly disagreed with Berliner’s assessment of the outlet’s journalism and the way it went about its work.

It’s not clear what Berliner was referring to when he talked about disparagement by Maher. In a lengthy memo to staff members last week, she wrote: “Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving their mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful and demeaning.”

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo revealed some of Maher’s past tweets after the essay was published. In one tweet, dated January 2018, Maher wrote that “Donald Trump is a racist.” A post just before the 2020 election pictured her in a Biden campaign hat.

In response, an NPR spokeswoman said Maher, years before she joined the radio network, was exercising her right to express herself. She is not involved in editorial decisions at NPR, the network said.

The issue is an example of what can happen when business executives, instead of journalists, are appointed to roles overseeing news organizations: they find themselves scrutinized for signs of bias in ways they hadn’t been before. Recently, NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde has been criticized for service on paid corporate boards.

Maher is the former head of the Wikimedia Foundation. NPR’s own story about the 40-year-old executive’s appointment in January noted that she “has never worked directly in journalism or at a news organization.”

In his resignation letter, Berliner said that he did not support any efforts to strip NPR of public funding. “I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism,” he wrote.

David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder

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Rangers’ jack roslovic came up big in game 2 victory: ‘elite play’.

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At the tail end of the Rangers’ power play in the second period of Game 2 on Tuesday, the second unit was up against the clock to break a 2-2 tie.

After carrying the puck through the middle of the ice and cleanly entering the Capitals’ zone, Jack Roslovic circled Washington’s net, posted up in the right faceoff circle and accepted a pass from Erik Gustafsson.

The Rangers’ trade-deadline acquisition then sniped the puck short side, right over Charlie Lindgren’s blocker and through a sliver of an opening to the back of the net to regain the lead for his team on the way to its 4-3 victory over the Capitals .

It came at a tough angle, too.

“That’s a high, high-end, elite play,” Washington head coach Spencer Carbery said. “You’ve got to tip your cap.”

Game 2 was arguably Roslovic’s best game since the Rangers acquired the 27-year-old forward from the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2026.

In addition to the goal, Roslovic was a little more noticeable in transition and when creating space for his linemates in the offensive zone.

There hasn’t been a lot to write home about since Roslovic slotted onto the right wing of Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad , but Tuesday saw a more encouraging performance from the Ohio native.

“I think he is a factor,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We had mentioned Mika earlier, I don’t think it’s Mika just on his own, I think his linemates have to help him contribute, as well. He got in the system the first game he bumped it up to Mika, Mika sends [Kreider] in on the breakaway. He’s on the second unit of the power play, which gets some time at the end. Not on the penalty-kill rotation, and so when you’re rolling the four lines, naturally some guys are going to get more minutes.

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“It shouldn’t necessarily be a reflection that there’s no confidence in how he plays the game or what he’s able to contribute. He’s played in two games, he’s generated a couple points for us and I think he’s played fine. He brings some speed, he brings some skill and he’s contributing.”

After his 2-1 score with the man advantage in Game 2 on Tuesday, Zibanejad notched his seventh career playoff power-play goal to move into a tie with Ron Greschner for seventh place on the franchise’s all-time list.

It was his 13th multipoint performance in the playoffs, tying Kreider and Walt Tkaczuk for the fifth most in Rangers history.

K’Andre Miller became the fourth defenseman in the past 20 years to score a shorthanded goal in the playoffs and have it stand as the game winner after he made it a 4-2 game on Tuesday, joining Brendan Smith, Matt Greene and Nicklas Lindstrom.

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