Driveway Ball or Gym Ball?
Posted by Burghardt Sporting Goods on Oct 9th 2026
Driveway Ball or Gym Ball? Picking a Basketball That Lasts
A good gym ball on a concrete driveway will not last the winter. Here is how to pick right.
Every November somebody brings us a basketball that looks like it lost a fight with a sidewalk. The leather is scuffed down to the backing on one side, the pebbling is gone smooth, and it has not held air since February. Nine times out of ten it was a nice indoor ball that somebody took out to the driveway for a summer, and concrete does that to leather in a hurry.
What the cover is made of decides where the ball can live
Three covers are on the shelf, and they are built for different floors. Pick by where the ball will actually get used, which for most families means both a gym and a driveway.
Full-grain leather, indoor only
This is the high school and college game ball. It needs a break-in stretch before the grip comes alive, and once it does, nothing feels better in a shooter's hand. Keep it on hardwood. Concrete takes the grain off in an afternoon.
Composite, indoor and outdoor
A synthetic cover that gives up a little feel for a lot of durability. It plays well in a gym, handles a driveway, and needs no break-in. For a youth player with one ball, this is almost always the right buy.
Rubber, built for outside
Waterproof and close to impossible to wreck. The bounce runs livelier and the surface feels slick next to a composite. For park courts and the ball that lives in the trunk, that trade is worth making.
The mistake we see most
A leather game ball bought in November, used in the gym until the snow clears, then taken out to the driveway in April. Concrete shreds the cover fibers and moisture warps the shape, and leather does not come back once it is scuffed. If the ball cost real money, it stays inside.
Pressure is the part everybody skips
Most basketballs in Wisconsin garages are underinflated, and a soft ball changes how a kid plays. Dribbles come back slow, and the cover creases where it should not. Shots get pushed. Keep a ball between roughly 7.5 and 8.5 psi, and check it with a gauge every couple of weeks, since every ball leaks a little through the valve no matter what you do.
Cold makes this worse. A ball that reads 8 psi in the kitchen reads lower after a night in an unheated garage, which is why the first driveway session of the day feels dead. Bring the ball inside, let it come up to room temperature, then check the pressure. A hand pump and a spare needle cost next to nothing and belong in the bag.
Gym floor rules nobody tells you about
Two habits keep a family on good terms with a gym. Keep indoor shoes indoors, because grit tracked in from a parking lot scratches a floor and kills the grip under the player's own feet. And wipe a ball down before a gym session if it has been outside. Dust off an outdoor ball leaves marks and makes a floor slick for everybody on it.
Do
- Buy a composite indoor and outdoor ball as a first ball.
- Check pressure with a gauge, not by squeezing it.
- Store the ball inside the house through the winter.
- Keep one ball for the gym and an older one for the driveway.
- Wipe the cover with a damp cloth and let it dry fully.
Skip
- Taking a leather game ball onto concrete or asphalt.
- Leaving a ball in a car trunk overnight in January.
- Inflating by feel, which usually lands well over 9 psi.
- Soaking a ball or leaving it out in the rain.
- Storing anything heavy on top of it in the garage.
A ball that holds air and keeps its grip is worth more to a young shooter than anything printed on the cover.
Size is a separate question
Cover material and ball size are two different decisions, and the size one follows the player's age. Our companion post lays out what a youth basketball player needs, with the size and rim height standards by age group and the NFHS rules that high school teams play under. Worth reading before you buy if your player is moving up an age bracket this season.
If you already know the size, our basketballs are stocked in sizes 5, 6, and 7, plus the smaller sizes for younger kids. Come squeeze a few. Hand feel is real, and it is the one thing a product photo cannot show you.
Driveway hoops and a Wisconsin winter
Plenty of Wisconsin kids get more reps in the driveway between December and March than they do in any gym, weather allowing. Twenty minutes after dinner on a cleared slab with a rubber ball adds up fast by February. All of that depends on the hoop being worth shooting at, which is where a lot of driveways fall down. A portable base that slides on every shot teaches a kid to adjust to the rim instead of trusting it.
We stock five Goalrilla in-ground models at the New Berlin store, with backboards running from 54 inches wide up to 72, and the model number tells you the width. An in-ground system gets anchored in concrete, so the backboard stays where it is put and the glass does not shake on a layup. Installation is available through us if you would rather not dig the hole and set the anchor yourself, and we can walk you through what the job involves on your particular driveway. Browse the in-ground hoops and basketball units we carry, or read our guide to Goalrilla hoops and installation near Milwaukee for how the install itself goes.
One note from experience with cold-weather play: the rim and net take a beating from ice, and a nylon net left up all winter turns brittle. A spare net is a few dollars and keeps the shot honest.
Keep a ball alive through March
- Store it indoors, out of the garage and out of the trunk.
- Gauge it every two weeks and top it off as needed.
- Wipe the cover after outdoor use and let it air dry.
- Rotate two balls so the good one stays off concrete.
- Replace it when the pebbling goes smooth in your shooting hand.
What we can do at the counter in New Berlin
Come hold a few balls before you buy one. We keep sizes and covers out where you can reach them, and we will put a gauge on whatever you pick so it leaves the store at the right pressure. Court shoes are worth trying the same trip, since fit on a growing foot is hard to get right from a chart. Our basketball footwear is on the floor to try.
For clubs and school programs, decoration runs in house, so numbered practice reversibles, warmups, and shooting shirts come out of the same building as the balls. Our custom apparel and uniform services page has the Team Sales contact. Burghardt has been doing this from one Wisconsin store since 1881, and basketball season is the busiest the floor gets all winter.
Stop in before the season starts
Balls in every size, court shoes to try on, and a gauge at the counter.
15333 W National Avenue, New Berlin, WI 53151
Phone: (262) 790-1170
Hours: Mon–Fri 9 AM–9 PM, Sat 9 AM–7 PM, Sun 10 AM–6 PM
When you love basketball like we do, you can't beat Burghardt! Since 1881.