Basketball hoops used to be little more than a metal rod with a hoop jutting out from a backboard, but as the game has increased in popularity and the market for home basketball courts has expanded, modern day hoops bear little resemblance to their early counterparts. Instead, there are now a variety of advanced materials that go into parts such as the backboard, and what were once simple metal poles are now mechanisms that allow you to cater your basketball experience to all ages and sizes. To help explore this new breed of basketball hoops, Mike Westhead of the New Jersey home court installation company Home Court Hoops has given a rundown of how the basketball hoop has changed.
“Basketball hoops have come a long way over the years,” Westhead explains. “The adjustable height hoops you see now are not the ones people are used to seeing. They’re used to seeing just the simple pole and backboard. But now people are seeing the adjustable height hoops, and most people that see it want one because they have kids that can’t play on a 10 foot high hoop.”
According to Westhead, parents buy home basketball systems for their children as a way to get them off the couch and encourage them to become more active. Because of this, the standard height hoops
that one sees in high schools and public parks are too large for many consumers’ needs. “So the adjustable height hoop covers the younger kids, but it also covers the older kids as well. So if you have kids of multiple age ranges, it offers a hoop for all of them,” he explains.
Westhead says that the reason these options are so ideal for all ages is because the hoop is able to be adjusted from the regulation 10 feet in height all the way down to seven feet. And as children grow up, they are able to adjust their hoops to their needs.
And as for people who worry about the sturdiness of the adjustable height hoops, Westhead assures them that they are more than durable. “The adjustable height hoops you see today are far superior to
anything you’ve seen in previous years. They’re just as sturdy and just as reliable as anything else on the market — these hoops are beasts.”
Additionally, Westhead explains, there are also alternatives to that traditional wooden backboard. Now, basketball hoop manufacturers are employing advanced materials to create backboards that will last for decades. “I usually recommend to clients that they go with tempered glass backboards,” says Westhead.
If you have fond childhood memories of playing basketball that you’re trying to duplicate for your kid, consider keeping the game but updating the technology.