Finished Installing our In-Ground Basketball Hoop

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I’m not sure how this slipped through the cracks and didn’t get posted until now, but… After returning from Disney World a two weeks ago, I spent the better part of the next day finishing up the installation of our in-ground basketball hoop. As I noted previously, we set the post on Thanksgiving weekend, but ran into some complications that required a bit of shimming and some additional concrete. I was thus unable to finish the installation that weekend as I had originally planned, and had to put it off even longer due to our Disney trip. Anyway, I digress…

The balance of the installation process was pretty uneventful, albeit a bit tedious. The only excitement came when I tried to hang the backboard single-handedly…

Here’s a basketball hoop installation tip: If you’re ever tempted to hang a good-sized backboard without help, don’t.

Climbing a ladder while carrying a 54 inch (plexi)glass backboard is no picnic, and it’s even harder to bolt it in place with one hand (the other will be busy trying to hold it in place). But with the help of my lovely and talented wife it went right up.

The best part of the installation (aside from being done with it) was that I only had one washer left over when all was said and done. As a side note, I’ve always considered myself to be highly efficient when it comes to assembling and/or repairing things — I always seem to have parts left over when I finish, yet everything always seems to work as intended.

In the time since I finished the installation, the kids have played basketball pretty much everyday that it didn’t rain. Our nine year old is polishing his skills, our six year old has learned to make a basket at eight feet (that’s regulation height for our local kids’ league), and our two year old runs around the driveway waving with his arms in the air yelling “I’m open! I’m open!” Our four year old, on the other hand, delights at speeding recklessly through the lane on his three-wheeler while his brothers shoot hoops. To each his own, I guess.