basketball
A facility with a firm playing surface and basketball hoops, including informal single-hoop courts.
A basketball facility is a place set up and furnished for recreational or formally arranged basketball games. It must include one or more courts with a firm surface for ball dribbling, and basketball hoops at their ends. Although the official game of basketball requires either a 28 x 15 meter court (International) or a 28.7 x 15.2 meter court (NBA, NCAA), variations in court size and hoop height are allowable within the broader definition of the game, and informal play can even take place on courts with only a single hoop.
The firm surface supports dribbling, and the raised hoop provides the scoring target. Those features distinguish a basketball court from an unprepared open space where a ball can merely be thrown around.
A handball court has netted goals at its ends rather than basketball hoops. Basketball facilities can accommodate informal layouts and hoop heights, including the single-hoop arrangement described above, without being limited to professional competition dimensions.
basketball Photos
Related definitions
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american football
A rectangular grass field for American football with 100 yards of playing field plus 2 end zones. -
australian football
An oval grass field or adapted cricket ground equipped for Australian rules football. -
badminton
A court divided by a net for badminton with rackets and shuttlecocks, including informal court sizes. -
bandy
An ice field with goals at both ends, equipped for the stick-and-ball team sport of bandy. -
baseball
A baseball diamond with home plate, three bases, a pitcher's mound, and an outfield beyond the bases. -
beach volleyball
A soft-sand court for beach volleyball, with two-player teams competing across a net. -
cricket
A cricket ground with a central pitch and wickets, surrounded by the field used for batting and fielding. -
curling
A place with one or more sheets of ice marked and measured for the sport of curling. -
floorball
A boarded, dry-surface rink for floorball, played with sticks and a ball without ice or skates. -
frisbee
A field or other place specifically designated for ultimate, other frisbee games, or recreational frisbee. -
futsal
An indoor playing facility for five-a-side futsal, with two goals and no sideboards. -
gaelic football/hurling
A large grass field with H-shaped goals, used for Gaelic football, hurling, or both sports. -
handball
One or more courts or fields for handball with 2 goals and a surface conducive to bouncing. -
ice hockey
A rink with an ice surface and goals at both ends, equipped for the puck-and-skate game of ice hockey. -
indoor football
An indoor field for American football, smaller than the 100-yard outdoor field. -
indoor soccer
A walled field for football (soccer), usually indoors, with goals at both ends. -
indoor sports
An arena or sports hall with spectator facilities and flexibility for at least five indoor sports. -
inline hockey
One or more rinks for hockey played on inline roller skates, with goals at both ends. -
lacrosse
A playing field equipped with netted goals for lacrosse, in which players handle a ball using netted sticks. -
laser tag
A site designated for games where opponents shoot each other with infrared ray guns in simulated combat. -
paintball
A designated facility or site for simulated-combat games in which players shoot paint-filled marking projectiles. -
pesäpallo
A field arranged for Finnish pesäpallo, with its bases and space for batting and fielding. -
polo
A field or arena dedicated to polo played on horses or other animals, excluding non-animal variants. -
roller hockey
One or more rinks for hockey played on four-wheeled roller skates, with goals at both ends. -
rugby
A rectangular grass playing field for rugby, including the thirteen- and fifteen-player forms of the game. -
soccer
An outdoor rectangular grass field for football (soccer) with goals at both ends. -
softball
A field for softball with 4 bases and a field arranged around a diamond smaller than a baseball diamond. -
volleyball
A facility with a court divided by a standing net for volleyball, including informal court arrangements.