An athlete can be only as good as his training, which includes many hours of practicing with the right equipment. It’s difficult to imagine LeBron James starting out with a shopping bag stuffed with old rags.

Nor should the court stars of tomorrow be stuck with gear that’s different from what they’ll be using in the real world, whether this means a friendly game for the school team or, perhaps later, participating in more exalted leagues.

This is not an NBA competition-grade ball. Rather, it’s one that’s tough enough to withstand being dribbled across concrete or asphalt. It has the same size, weight and elasticity of a match-quality ball, however, so it provides exactly the same feel and behavior as what professional players use.

In other words, if you can’t play with this, you have no business blaming the ball.

If you can handle it, though, you can expect it to bounce in exactly the same way on any court in the world.

The deep groove design means that the “seams” provide extra traction when shooting, while the textured surface allows good control even when playing after a rainstorm. As further proof of its quality, it loses hardly any air at all as time goes by and is in fact sold fully inflated, so even those without an air pump can get going as soon as they receive it.

Happy hooping!