Man or woman, basketball is a sport for all sexes. Folks of all descriptions have the ability to appreciate the joys of basketball. Invite your friends over and dazzle them with your newly learned skills. What new moves, you ask? Read the tips in this article to find out how to improve your moves on the court.
When you are in control of the ball, make sure you always pay attention to what is happening on the court. Know where the other players are. Don not stare at the ground. If you do, there is no way for you to have the type of court awareness that you need to be successful.
Practice the skill of pass catching. Make sure you get used to catching less than perfect passes smoothly. When the pressure is on, not every pass will come straight to you. So you should do the team a favor by knowing how to take in any kind of a pass that comes from someone.
If you play serious team basketball, jump rope for thirty minutes before practice sessions. You’ll get used to playing basketball already winded and tired. Doing this can make you very prepared to make shots in late game situations, as your conditioning is already a notch above anyone else just showing up to practice.
Would you like to pull one over on your opponents? Give the back pass a try! To accomplish this, grab the ball with the dominant hand. Pull it behind you. After determining which direction you want the ball to go, use a quick flick of your wrist to send it that way. This helps trick your opponents.
Learn the positions on a basketball court. Each position has different roles to fill on both offense and defense. There are guards, point guards, forwards, power forwards, and centers. If you want to really enjoy basketball, learn the needs of all of the positions, not just the one you are most interested in.
Remember that refs don’t see, catch or call everything. You’re going to get fouled sometimes and not hear the whistle. Just remember that works both ways. You will also get away with some fouls that aren’t called. Respect the refs, but remember that they don’t determine the winner and loser.
If you slump when you shoot, look at what your shoulders are doing. Shoulders are the key to a consistently successful shot. To help improve your shot, focus on squaring up on each of your shots. The dominant shoulder must be perfectly aligned with the rim.
Good rebounding is a key aspect of a success basketball player, so practice rebounds and jumping. Many easy baskets come from the second, third or even fourth shot taken. Practice getting your own rebounds. It is very common for a ball to hit off the rim and head right back towards you.
To get offensive rebounds in basketball, you have to learn how to follow the basketball off the rim. Get used to watching people shoot, and see how the ball caroms off. Then get used to anticipating those bounces, so you can get around the defender before he even thinks to box you out.
If you’re playing the guard position, having good court vision is an absolute key to success. You should always keep your eyes moving and focus on what’s happening around you. Learn how to dribble the ball with your head up. Looking down while dribbling will mean you can’t see what’s happening on the court.
To better your vertical jumping in basketball, try doing some deep knee bend jump exercises. Begin by standing straight. Quickly crouch down as low as possible with your bottom nearly touching the ground, then jump upwards as high as possible. The minute you land, crouch immediately and jump back up again. Try doing this about 15 times, and when you’re able to, try increasing it to 20, 30, and so on. Don’t do these exercises more than four or fives times every week.
Use only your fingertips when you are dribbling the ball. It may be tempting when you are first starting out to dribble with the palms of your hand, but you’ll have no control over the ball at all. When you use your finger tips, you’ll see that you’ll have a lot more control overall.
To help practice three-point shooting you should practice shooting at the NBA distance. Remember that high school, college and international standard lines are all shorter than the NBA distance. If you can hit from NBA range, you can get open looks at a deeper range than a defense is probably going to mind you (until you start hitting).
Now you can show off your skills the next time you play. Perhaps you have even learned a few new secrets. Just keep the game fun. Of course, winning is always pretty fun as well!
