When can my child start learning basketball? What is the best age to begin?

Article by SG Basketball Coach PK Ong

4-year-old at SG Basketball court at Turf City working on his shooting form.

First of all, let us say that there is no hard and fast rule as to how old or how young a child can start picking up a sport like basketball. From the moment babies open their eyes to see the world, they are constantly learning and picking up cues and signals from everywhere to grow and develop physically and mentally.

Even at a very young age, some children show great aptitude for physical activities, and you may be surprised at how quickly they can learn a movement or a skill when they are given the proper guidance. After all, we are all born with the ability to learn, abeit at different speeds.

As a parent, I’m sure you have had moments in your child’s life that you were amazed at something he/she could do, be it building a complex Lego maze, drawing something that seems way beyond their age, or telling you some scientific facts that you probably needed to verify yourself (which they learnt from YouTube Kids videos they watched).

From a coaching perspective, we are always ready to be amazed by young kids who push our imagination and make us excited just seeing them do the basketball moves that we teach them. So if you are uncertain whether your kid is too young to come for structured basketball classes on a regular basis, ask yourself these 5 key questions, and if your answer to most (or all) of these is YES, you should seriously consider bringing them for a trial class, like the ones we offer:

1.    Does my kid understand instructions given to him/her?

2.    Is he/she able to follow all/some of these instructions?

3.    Is my kid able to watch and learn from TV/videos/people?

4.    Does my kid enjoy playing with other children?

5.    Has my kid done other classes before?

If your answer is no to any of the above, especially points #4 & #5, all the more you should consider letting them try out a sports class.

Our youngest trainee and his older brother happy at training doing a dribbling drill

Our youngest trainee was 2 and a-half years old when he came to our academy for a trial class. Though his language skills were not yet fully developed, he had great aptitude for the sport and you could see it from his movements almost right away. The steady hands when he dribbled the ball, the picture perfect form when he took his first shots at the mini hoop. He did take a while to warm up to the coaches during his first couple of lessons, but after that, he did really well and continues to improve day by day.

That said, not ALL children have the same level of aptitude and ability right from the onset. Some of them do take a longer time to get up to speed. The only way to find out whether they are suitable is to let them try.

The coaches are important too, as they are the ones equipped with the knowledge and skill to teach the kids. And not every coach has the ability to engage and build rapport with young children. So while your child is trying out a class, you should be watching and looking at how the coaches communicate with him/her.

Noticeably more parents these days are sending their children for all kinds of different lessons and sports classes are quickly gaining ground. And interestingly, more so at a younger age, even the 3 to 4 year-olds. Even in the pre-schools and kindergartens, there are increasingly more offerings of extra-curricular lessons within the schools. It makes sense in Singapore today as most children start taking tuition classes after they enter primary school, and may have fewer opportunities to try out sports after that.

So, why wait? If you want your children to build an active lifestyle early in their lives, you should get started on it. Ask yourself those 5 key questions above and give it a go!