Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About letting dc practice basketball on the drive 5x a week?

245 replies

GCSquirrel · 09/01/2023 19:03

The neighbour across the road has complained. This neighbour doesn’t actually live here full time, her and her dh come down 10 days a month as it’s their second home. She says that dc practicing is ruining her time here and that last time she was down she considered booking into a hotel 🙄.

Ds is 10 and is mad keen on basketball. He has one training session after school per week and a training session on either a Saturday or a Sunday. He doesn’t practice on the driveway on those days so he’s only out there 5 days a week. It always immediately after school on weekdays and never before 10am or after about 5pm at the weekend. I never let him stay out there for more than an hour. The driveway is across our front garden which has a 6 foot wall around it and a solid gate so the ball never bounces out. It’s just the noise of him bouncing that drives her mad.

I spoke to her and told her that I’m not going to stop dc from practicing. If she’d been slightly more reasonable about it I offer have asked her if there were times that it particularly bothered her and got dc to work around that. Instead she came marching across the road, banging on the door and telling me how much she’d paid for her house and how my family was ruining the one place that she came to relax. I’m on really good terms with all my other neighbours and they all know dc well enough to feel comfortable to go out and tell him to pack it in if it’s annoying them for whatever reason.

AIBU not to reduce dc practicing when neighbours are down?

OP posts:
RudsyFarmer · 09/01/2023 19:05

I would probably have agreed with you until last year when next doors kids made our garden unusable by playing basketball constantly on their patio. Nothing she can do, nothing I can do but FUCK ME it’s incredibly annoying and anti social.

MrAloysiusSnuffleupagus · 09/01/2023 19:05

How long is DC out there each day thumping the ball on the driveway?

DrMarciaFieldstone · 09/01/2023 19:06

So your other neighbours also complain about this? It is quite an annoying, repetitive noise.

Eastereggsboxedupready · 09/01/2023 19:06

Tell neighbours to get some headphones...

millymollymoomoo · 09/01/2023 19:07

Well clearly you can do what you want but god I hate the sound of bouncing balls and this would drive me spare do im with your neighbour !

FatEaredFuck · 09/01/2023 19:07

You are being so unreasonable. Cant he go and practice in a park? Thats very repetitive and obnoxious. It's a basketball, It's not difficult to travel with and take to a park.

280NeuerNamen · 09/01/2023 19:08

RudsyFarmer · 09/01/2023 19:05

I would probably have agreed with you until last year when next doors kids made our garden unusable by playing basketball constantly on their patio. Nothing she can do, nothing I can do but FUCK ME it’s incredibly annoying and anti social.

Yep, our neighbours have just added a basketball hoop to their trampoline set up in the garden. Not only do I hear them jumping on the trampoline at 7am I now know exactly when they are home from school as the thud thud of the bloody basketball starts up. Blimey, I try to be patient but it is wearing thin.

Original poster
GCSquirrel · 09/01/2023 19:08

MrAloysiusSnuffleupagus · 09/01/2023 19:05

How long is DC out there each day thumping the ball on the driveway?

As I said in OP, never for more than an hour

OP posts:
Climbles · 09/01/2023 19:11

Any chance you can get him more structured lessons or a place on a team that plays more regularly? It doesn’t feel right to stop him practicing sports when so many kids sit on their Xboxes or cause trouble with their mates. If he wants to take it seriously he needs to get the hours in. I know someone’s whose child went to study in America on a basket scholarship.

Original poster
GCSquirrel · 09/01/2023 19:11

DrMarciaFieldstone · 09/01/2023 19:06

So your other neighbours also complain about this? It is quite an annoying, repetitive noise.

No, other neighbours haven’t complained. I’ve mentioned it to them in terms of “if it’s doing your head in tell him to stop” and they all know us well enough and we’re all friendly enough to feel comfortable doing that to each other. One of the neighbours has a 16yo who sometimes comes round to help dc with his layups, pretty sure no one else is particularly annoyed by it. Most of them aren’t back until 6ish during the week though when dc has finished practicing. Complaining neighbours are around all day when they’re here.

OP posts:
Original poster
GCSquirrel · 09/01/2023 19:12

Climbles · 09/01/2023 19:11

Any chance you can get him more structured lessons or a place on a team that plays more regularly? It doesn’t feel right to stop him practicing sports when so many kids sit on their Xboxes or cause trouble with their mates. If he wants to take it seriously he needs to get the hours in. I know someone’s whose child went to study in America on a basket scholarship.

He plays on the only team in the area that caters to his age group, we’re pretty rural. They do one hour training during the week and a two hour training or match at weekends. That will increase if he sticks with it for a couple of years until he’s in the next age category.

OP posts:
Original poster
GCSquirrel · 09/01/2023 19:14

FatEaredFuck · 09/01/2023 19:07

You are being so unreasonable. Cant he go and practice in a park? Thats very repetitive and obnoxious. It's a basketball, It's not difficult to travel with and take to a park.

The only two parks within a ten minute drive don’t have a basketball hoop. Well, one has a hoop but it’s on grass so completely useless.

OP posts:
Climbles · 09/01/2023 19:14

Local community centre or church that might let him put up a hoop?

hallodarknessmyoldfriend · 09/01/2023 19:15

I can sympathize with your neighbor. I am in a worse position - my upstairs neighbors have 4 kids and their 2 youngest often play football indoors.

I haven't complained yet (for various reasons), but I silently judge them and think they are incredibly selfish.

I think every now and than it's fine, but I can imagine how disturbing it is 5 times a week. Is there nowhere else your DC can practice?

GlitteryUnicornSparkles · 09/01/2023 19:16

The continual bouncing of a ball is a really irritating sound but its also good for people to be getting out and getting fresh air and exercise, for just 1 hour at a reasonable time (which after school is) I don’t see the problem, they need to suck it up. When you live in close proximity to other people you have to expect a little bit of annoyance here and there it comes with the territory. Maybe they should consider a holiday home in the middle of nowhere!

dizzydizzydizzy · 09/01/2023 19:16

YANBU. It's a perfectly normal thing to do on your own property and doesn't last for long.

Lawn mowers, leaf blowers, car door slamming (that wakes me Up), drills/chain saws are all much more annoying. Your neighbour should have bought a house in an isolated spot. She cannot expect everyone around her to be silent.

Pixie2015 · 09/01/2023 19:16

DS loves basketball but it does my head in totally as can here the bouncing in the house - luckily we on end of row but in summer we limited it to 10 mins a time when weather nice and if neighbours in garden would be a no go.

Eudaimonia5 · 09/01/2023 19:18

Stop it, you're pissing people off. They might not all have complained yet but it doesn't mean they're not annoyed by it.

Once or twice a week is probably ok but 5 days a week is taking the piss.

Nimbostratus100 · 09/01/2023 19:18

I dont think you are being unreasonable, to be honest, if you are 100% sure the ball NEVER bounces out - speaking as someone who has had literally thousands of pound of damage done to my property by footballs.... I get incredibly anxious at the sound of a ball bouncing. But if it is somewhere totally secure, no problem

Brokendaughter · 09/01/2023 19:19

They should book into hotels instead of taking up a home a family could be living in if they have a problem with the normal noises of everyday life.

Children are allowed to play & it isn't as if he is throwing a ball at the side of their house 5 days a week.

Let your child play.

amylou8 · 09/01/2023 19:20

Yes it must be annoying, but one hour a day at sensible times I think is acceptable.

MadameDe · 09/01/2023 19:21

I sort of agree with you OP. It's not like there are tons of places to practice and providing it is just for an hour a day, it shouldn't be a problem. However, it is a really annoying noise. I bought my son a basketball hoop a few years ago, I'm his mother and couldn't bear it. Maybe you should try and explain that he needs to practice but that he will limit it to less than an hour and x3 per week. At the end of the day, you live there full-time and she doesn't so in essence it' up to you and the other neighbours.

Tempone · 09/01/2023 19:21

Another thread is moaning kids are all lazy and all on screens. But then when they are out playing and people moan. If people.want total.silence they should live in the middle of their own field.

TheFlis12345 · 09/01/2023 19:22

Bouncing basketballs are the most intrusive noise, I find that headphones don’t even fully block the relentless thunking. We didn’t buy a house we loved as it was close to a park basketball hoop and 5 minutes of thunking while looking round the garden completely put us off, we would never have been able to relax there. Five hours a week would make me want to move!!

Eastereggsboxedupready · 09/01/2023 19:22

At one house our neighbour had a terribly anti social hobby.
Car washing.
From 8 am every single day.
Even the day after his brand new car was delivered.. My morning alarm was the clatter of buckets and a jetwash.

Swipe left for the next trending thread