Basketball players getting soft because they won't play outdoors

Chester's 7th Street courts look great
but not the place to find an
old fashioned pick up game

About 6 years ago, back in the Chester Spotlight paper days, I wrote a story about the empty basketball courts I found on a Saturday morning in every part of Chester. When I was a kid, that would have never been the case. 

About three years ago in a conversation with a Chester High School assistant basketball coach, I was asking about the summer tournament they usually attend in Allentown (I think it's Allentown). He said they did play in the tournament but on the bus ride up there it started raining hard and the players were overjoyed. It was because the outside tournament would be forced inside and the kids prefer to play indoors.

I thought that was crazy. Isn't summer league basketball all about blacktop, sun, heat, wind, and mastering the elements? Yes it is, but that's not what the kids are accustomed to anymore. If they can't play inside at the high school or the Boys and Girls Club you won't see too many competitive pickup games being played in the playgrounds of Chester. I thought it was just a Chester thing until I read the following article.

Click HERE to read ESPN's reasons for this change and how it's affecting the overall game of basketball.