At what age should boys stop jumping at the free throw line? Most of my 4th grade boys need to jump in order to keep their natural shot. When they don't jump, they tend to shot put the ball or throw it like a baseball.


Thanks so much!

Unless they move the FT line closer, lower the hoops, and use smaller light weight basketball... it will be a while.

It all depends on the size and maturity of the player... but generally it's from 6th - 10th grade before they can shoot free throws with proper technique and without jumping.

My daughter is in 7th grade and she can shoot without jumping. But if she does her shooting technique gets all jacked up. My son is in 5th, he's not very big, it's going to be several years before he can shoot free throws without jumping.

This is not something I worry about and just let it happen naturally.

Great. Thanks for the response. This is how I feel too. Just a natural progression, especially when using normal free throw line and 10 foot rims for 9 and 10 year olds.

Most tournaments/leagues around here allow the 4th grade and under to violate the line by jumping on a free throw. I coach a 5th grade team and have found that the officials generally allow the 5th graders to do the same, though the rules say otherwise. And I am fine with this.

Are you being called for violations?

Great question. We actually have had inconsistent officiating on this. Some refs call it and some don't. I've brought it up to the league asking if they could just be consistent with the calls, so the boys don't get confused. I was more asking because me and my co-coach differ on our approaches of teaching the boys. He wants them not to jump. I don't think that's the way to go for all the reasons Jeff mentioned above. If they don't jump, they throw it like a baseball or shot put it.

I think they have to jump and it should be very easy for the league to "loosen" this rule with the officials and get everyone on the same page.

I hope they are approachable on these kinds of things. IMO, the best officials we have had are the ones who understand that at this age, there are violations on almost every play. As long as they are consistent with their calls as well as their "allowances" it seems to work out well. A balanced, good flowing, well paced game is a tremendous learning opportunity for the kids. A disjointed whistle fest of insignificant calls really is not.

Hope it all works out.