When I grew up in the 50's 90% of my play time was totally unsupervised. The other ten percent was playing on organized teams and practicing with them.
We played pick-up games of baseball, basketball, and touch football, depending on the season. (For tackle football, we tried to even out the sides in order to make it interesting).
In a pickup game, the biggest two kids do something to decide which one picks first, unless one of them is acknowledged to be better, in which case the #2 picks first. In baseball, the two "captains" would toss a bat and, in turn grab the bat above the hand of the other guy until it was no longer possible to grab it above the other guy's hand. In basketball, the two "captains" would take shots from the top of the key to decide who got first pick. If the #3 guy was really good, then the second picker might be given two picks.
The last one picked was the least desirable player. Everybody knew it. Most of us spent some time when we first started out as the last one picked. Some "captains" would say cruel things like, "I'd rather have nobody else than have to have that kid on my team." That's the way it worked.
We survived.
PLayground basketball worked a little bit differently where I come from. You would go to the courts and gather up a team of five friends. Two teams would play each other while everyone else (maybe three or four other teams) would either just hang out, or shoot baskets on another court. Games were to eleven, one point per basket. Fouls were self-called by the person who was called. Other infractions were decided by general agreement.
The winning team stayed on the court and played the team that was next in line. If you lost, you might have to wait an hour for your team to come around again in the rotation. If a team won four or five in a row they would be broken up, so that two new teams could take the court. If you were not good enough to be selected for someone's team, tough shit. Get better and come back again next year.
Players were mostly high school kids, some of whom were on their high school teams. But there were also so young adults or college kids and the occasional younger kid - but this was rare. Sometimes a college player or two would show up. They weren't given any special treatment, but usually they were quite a bit better than anyone else on the court. Connie Hawkins would show up a couple times every summer - he was in and out of pro ball at that time...he hadn't got into the NBA yet. He was a brute force on the court. He could physically harm the defender who was covering him, and often did.
During the daytime when there weren't enough players to get teams of five, we played mostly 3 on 3, half court. Unlike in conventional basketball, the team that scored RETAINED possession, which we called, "New York Rules." I'm not sure why it was called that. An older fellow named, "Ivan" decreed that you cannot play basketball with an even number of players on a side, so we never did. Curious thing, that. Not sure what his credentials were, but he made that rule and it stuck.
Do kids today play unsupervised pick-up games in anything?
We played pick-up games of baseball, basketball, and touch football, depending on the season. (For tackle football, we tried to even out the sides in order to make it interesting).
In a pickup game, the biggest two kids do something to decide which one picks first, unless one of them is acknowledged to be better, in which case the #2 picks first. In baseball, the two "captains" would toss a bat and, in turn grab the bat above the hand of the other guy until it was no longer possible to grab it above the other guy's hand. In basketball, the two "captains" would take shots from the top of the key to decide who got first pick. If the #3 guy was really good, then the second picker might be given two picks.
The last one picked was the least desirable player. Everybody knew it. Most of us spent some time when we first started out as the last one picked. Some "captains" would say cruel things like, "I'd rather have nobody else than have to have that kid on my team." That's the way it worked.
We survived.
PLayground basketball worked a little bit differently where I come from. You would go to the courts and gather up a team of five friends. Two teams would play each other while everyone else (maybe three or four other teams) would either just hang out, or shoot baskets on another court. Games were to eleven, one point per basket. Fouls were self-called by the person who was called. Other infractions were decided by general agreement.
The winning team stayed on the court and played the team that was next in line. If you lost, you might have to wait an hour for your team to come around again in the rotation. If a team won four or five in a row they would be broken up, so that two new teams could take the court. If you were not good enough to be selected for someone's team, tough shit. Get better and come back again next year.
Players were mostly high school kids, some of whom were on their high school teams. But there were also so young adults or college kids and the occasional younger kid - but this was rare. Sometimes a college player or two would show up. They weren't given any special treatment, but usually they were quite a bit better than anyone else on the court. Connie Hawkins would show up a couple times every summer - he was in and out of pro ball at that time...he hadn't got into the NBA yet. He was a brute force on the court. He could physically harm the defender who was covering him, and often did.
During the daytime when there weren't enough players to get teams of five, we played mostly 3 on 3, half court. Unlike in conventional basketball, the team that scored RETAINED possession, which we called, "New York Rules." I'm not sure why it was called that. An older fellow named, "Ivan" decreed that you cannot play basketball with an even number of players on a side, so we never did. Curious thing, that. Not sure what his credentials were, but he made that rule and it stuck.
Do kids today play unsupervised pick-up games in anything?