Basketball: rules at-a-glance

Two teams of five, a hoop, a ball, four quarters. The rules of youth basketball in five minutes.

Field/court setup

Rectangular court with a hoop at each end. Three-point line, free-throw line, half-court line. Court size scales with age — youth uses smaller courts at younger ages.

Game length

Four quarters. 6-8 minutes per quarter at youth, 8 at middle school, 8 at HS, 12 in college, 12 in NBA. Clock stops on whistles, free throws, and timeouts.

Scoring basics

— Shot inside the 3-point arc: 2 points.
— Shot beyond the 3-point arc: 3 points.
— Free throw: 1 point each. Awarded for fouls in the act of shooting and for accumulated team fouls (after 7-10 fouls in a half).

Calls you'll see

— Personal foul: illegal contact with another player. Free throws if the foul was in the act of shooting. Five fouls = fouled out (six in NBA).
— Technical foul: unsportsmanlike conduct, can be called on player or coach. Two = ejection.
— Traveling: more than two steps without dribbling. Possession changes.
— Double dribble: dribble, stop, dribble again. Possession changes.
— Carrying/palming: hand under the ball during the dribble. Possession changes.
— Out of bounds: ball or player touches the line or beyond. Possession to the team that didn't touch it last.
— 5-second violation: failure to inbound the ball within 5 seconds; or holding the ball without dribbling/shooting/passing within 5 seconds while closely guarded.
— 10-second violation (HS+): offensive team fails to advance the ball past half-court within 10 seconds.
— Shot clock (HS varies, college and NBA): possession ends if no shot is attempted within the clock.

Three things parents most often get wrong

— The 'over the back' call. Not actually a rule per se. Refs call it as a foul if there's contact, but reaching over a player's back to rebound without contact isn't a foul.
— Charge vs block. The defender must be in a legal guarding position (set, both feet on the floor, facing the ball-handler) before contact. Charges are getting called less at the youth level than they used to be.
— Continuous motion on the shot. If the foul happens while the player is in the act of shooting (the upward shooting motion has begun), free throws are awarded even if the shot misses.

A few specifics.

Court and rim height by age. USA Basketball recommends 8-foot rims at U7, 9-foot at U8-U9, 10-foot at U10+. Many youth leagues still use 10-foot rims at younger ages; if your league does, the kid is shooting the wrong-sized ball at a too-high rim, which is why almost no one can reach the hoop.

Ball size by age. Youth size 5 (27.5 inches) at U10 and below, intermediate size 6 (28.5 inches) for women’s and U11-U14 boys, regulation size 7 (29.5 inches) for men’s HS+ and college/pro.

Free-throw line distance. Youth uses an adjusted free-throw line at younger ages (typically 12 feet instead of 15) so kids can actually shoot them.

Bonus / one-and-one. When the team in the bonus (after 7 team fouls in a half), the fouled player shoots one free throw and gets a second only if the first goes in. After the 10th team foul, automatic two free throws. NBA uses different bonus rules.

Common youth-league differences. Many youth leagues require zone-only or man-only defense, set minimum playing time per player per game, or use other modifications. Read your league’s specific rules at the start of the season.

Last updated April 2026.