On basketball courts across the globe, or within Life Time's 113 basketball courts across the U.S., hundreds of players gather on a daily basis to play a pickup game of 5-on-5 basketball.
In pickup basketball, there are no set teams, no referees, and no stats. It's counter to the structured basketball competition in high school, college and professional associations that continue to become more sophisticated, more complex, and more complicated every year.
Pickup basketball remains a constant rebel to the system. It's for those who still seek the fun in basketball and not the triangle offense and deep analytics.
It's for those who love basketball in its rawest form.
Pickup basketball is universal and defies the barriers of age, gender, race, and economics. Your standing in the pickup ball world is 100% dependent on your ability to play the game. Because of this unique dynamic, pickup basketball continues to make an undeniable cultural impact.
Roger Johnson, our guest on this episode, is the personification of the pickup ethos. Roger has played pickup ball at Life Time- Target Center in Minneapolis since 2006. At 63-years-old, Roger remains a fixture on the Life Time basketball courts during the lunch time pickup runs. His ability to knock down NBA threes at will, combined with his passion for team play, has made Roger the most popular pickup basketball teammate in Life Time Target Center's history.
Roger shares his basketball journey, how he continues to excel at pickup basketball in his 60s, and a few secrets on how you can dominate the pickup ball format.