Straight or by two?

July 11, 2006 9:53 AM

I just moved to Brooklyn (Carroll Gardens). Where are the best outdoor courts to play (full-court, not-with-children) pickup basketball?
posted by mookieproof to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Most of the schoolyard courts in Carroll Gardens/P Slope/Red Hook and vicinity have younger, HS-age players hanging out most of the time. If you're up for a hardcore game, it works great but it might not be the most comfortable kicks for someone in their twenties or thirties.

There are regular informal league games over at the Y on 9th Street in Park Slope that are dirt cheap and have some good players -- and you don't feel like you escaped from Logan's Run playing there either. Check it out.
posted by huskerdont at 12:19 PM on July 11, 2006

You're out of luck for that kind of thing in the neighborhood. There's a nice court just south of the west end of Atlantic, but nobody ever plays there. If you can get a group of your friends together, however, you could run your own games since it's always empty.

I understand there are some nice runs at the new Y on Court St., and it's full court, unlike the 9th St. Y which has a track overhanging the court and is only about 2/3 the size of a small full court.
posted by mekanic at 3:35 PM on July 11, 2006

I just had to chime in, since I was raised on Henry Street and lived on 5th & 5th in Park Slope (right between 51's & John Jay), and both areas were mentioned here.

We play bocchi ball on the beach nowadays (SC, where I was actually born), and I think of the ol' timers in Carroll Park everytime, those were the days.

Oh basketball? Sorry, I haven't been back since '88 so I have nothing to add to what was already stated but my wife and I are undecided between NYC & Key West for our next vacation (we just did Sandals Caribbean Resort, Jamaica).

Maybe we'll see you next time... enjoy the Big Apple, there's no place like it (but I'm still hooked on boats and beaches, sorry).
posted by BillyG at 8:13 PM on July 11, 2006