By: Jafar Abdi

Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the country, with this fame comes the creation of many different places to play basketball. Whether it be an outdoor park or a gym there are many different places to play this sport. But which ones are the best? Let’s get into it!

#1 YMCA Midway: The Y is a gym franchise found all over the country with many different locations. It usually contains a pool, weight-lifting area, a basketball court, and many other places to get active. The YMCA I will be talking about is the Midway location. The gym is on the upper floor and is only 1 court, it has 2 rims and many benches dotted around the floor. The hoops are single rim, but regulation size and height. It’s open from 7 AM-5 PM on the weekends but 5 AM-9 PM on the weekdays. It isn’t usually too packed during the school year, but with the addition of summer memberships, it can get filled with younger kids during the break. It earns 7/10 from me.

#2 YMCA East-Side: The YMCA gets featured again? Yes, and I am here to review it. The YMCA has multiple locations around the area so I am going to do it again. I’ve already gone through the motions and you must know what the Y is about, so let’s actually review the court. The hours are the same as the Midway location, but the court is different. It has 6 rims: the 2 regulation ones and 2 more 9ft rims on either side. The traffic is a bit different since there is no summer membership, but it’s more popular than its Midway counterpart throughout the year. It also has a laminated wooden court, different from the other YMCA. It earns 8/10 from me.

#3 Hamline Park: This will be the only outdoor court I will be reviewing and also the only park on the list so it is a bit unique. Hamline Park takes up a whole entire city block, featuring a soccer court, a playground, a jungle gym, and a blacktop which is the only thing we are reviewing today. It is a typical outdoor court with 2 hoops regulation height and dimensions but double-rimmed. It is placed in a pretty central location but still doesn’t get too much traffic; the only regulars are pretty much people who live close by. It is a bit old with the 3-pt line faded out on either side but for an outdoor park that’s pretty normal. It earns 6/10 from me.