Basketball Drills

Basketball Training

To excel at anything, you must work hard at it. This is true in education, relationships, careers, and athletics, but the hard work must be focused. If you want to catch a fish you must fish in a place where there are fish. It does not matter if you are the best fisherman in the world who has gone through years of training, if you did not do the work to find out if the lake you are fishing in has fish, you will fail. Your work must be focused at all times and that is the key to basketball training. You must begin with the end in mind, fight for it, and then celebrate the small victories and then you will be successful.

Beginning with the end in mind is imagining where you want to be after you have put the hard work in. You must imagine what thing you will improve after this workout, practice, or game. You must also imagine where you want your gave to be 1 week, month, and year from now. Doing this will give you focus for all the hard work you are doing. It is said that the difference between those who are good and those who are great is that one of them sets goals to where they want to go. They do not just walk amelesly, they picture what they want and then go for it.

Once you have the end in mind, you have to work your butt off to get it. Getting better at basketball is not a walk in the park. It is like running a marathon. You have to slowly work your way up, or as others put it, you have to walk before you can run. This applies to basketball training in that you have to learn the fundamentals first. You have to be able to make a layup before you can make a  jump shot. Also while you put the hard work in everyday, do not forget to focus on one things to improve on. Do not focus on everything at once. One day perfect your crossover. Make your crossover so good that it will move your defender . The next day focus on the next things . Video tape yourself on these things until every little thing is perfect. Each day do one thing perfect so that when you are shooting around, you can remember how you should be doing that crossover or whatever part of your game that is just a little off. Doing these things, you will get better slowly but surely, and remember that this is all apart of imagining what you want to be at the end of each practice, workout, or game.

Lastly, you must reward yourself. Give yourself treats along the way for when you reach your small daily goals and big season goals. Mostly, do not forget while training why you play basketball, because if you forget your purpose, what is the point.

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Basketball Dribbling Drills

There are all kind of dribbling drills out there, but what you really want to focus on depends on what level you are at and what you want to improve on, but to be a good ball handler you must be proficient at all these different drills.  

If you want to be able to make a person look silly, master these drills. When mastering them. Do them so that you are losing the ball, otherwise, you are not stretching yourself and making yourself a better dribbler.

Building Quickness

1Drop flip-have ball between legs, drop it and catch it with hand on other side of body. Can be done with arms staggered or together.

2Behind the head and knees clap-put the ball behind the head knees, drop it, clap hands in front of your body, and then catch it.

3Quick touches-tap a basketball between extended hands as fast as you can.

4Throw it through- throw the basketball through open, widespread legs as hard as you can.

Finger Tip Control

1One and two hand machine gun- tap the ball along the ground as fast as you can.

2Finger be finger machine gun-tap the basketball finger by finger as fast as you can.

3One hand tap around leg- use one hand to tap circles around your leg.

4Figure 8 tap standing up and on one knee-tap the ball doing a figure 8 around your legs.

5Lay down-tap the ball from any position with any motion while lying down. Be Creative!

Cupping

1Cup it-dribble the ball carrying as much as you can legally.

2Pound and kill-dribble the ball as hard as you can and the go down and do tap dribbles.

3Swing the purse-slap the ball hand to hand in a pendulum motion going as high as you can.

4Around the leg-1 hand, 2 dribbles/2 hands, 2 dribbles/1 hand, 1 dribble/2 hands, and 1 dribble.

Building Handles

1Ball Slap-slap the ball as hard as you can.

2Banana-Squeze the ball hand to hand with arms outstretched above your head.

3Around the head-pass ball from hand to hand around your head.

4Around the back-pass ball from hand to hand around your torso.

5Around the legs-pass ball from hand to hand around your legs.

6Around the head, back, and legs. -pass ball from hand to hand around your head, then back, then legs.

7Around a leg-pass ball from hand to hand around one leg at a time.

Changing hands

1Low V-low back and forth dribbles.

2High V-a big wide back and forth dribble.

3Low to High V-start low then go high going back and forth.

4Between the legs-simply dribble between the legs.

5Pound crossover-do a dribble then crossover. Do it back and forth.

6Begind the back-dribble back and forth behind the back. You can also add a pound.

Game Situation

1Crossover

2Between the legs

3The spin

4Behind the back

5Stutter+move

6Half spin the lean in

7Pull back, crossover

8Crossover and recrossover

9One hand double cross

10Between the legs and back

11Hesitation

12In and Out

13Fake Crossover

On the Move

1Skipper-dribble between the legs while skipping in place

2Walker-pass ball between legs while walking

3Walk-dribble through legs while walking

4Run and kill-push ball up court and the stop and do low pound dribbles.

Two Ball Stationary

1High Low-Dribble both ball at the same time and alternate high and then low.

2One High, One Low-dribble one ball high and the other one low.

3Switch hands-switch the hands you are dribble the ball with.

4Switch balls-switch balls you are dribbling with.

5Figure 8-Dribble the balls in a figure 8 around your legs chasing each other or replacing.

6Front, Back-Dribble one ball in front of you and one in back switching hands at the same time.

7V’s-Dribble each ball in a v shapes in front of you.

Two Balls on the Move

1Walk and jog while dribble the balls with the same and alternate rhythm.

2All game situation moves, but with both balls.

Tennis ball Drills

1You can do any of these drills with a tennis ball in your other hand. So while you are dribbling toss the tennis ball up and snatch it out of the air. If you are crossing over, just switch hands with the tennis ball as well. This drill really stretches yourself and improves your gave immensely.

Other Tips

Make sure you do these drills do stretch yourself. Do not just go through the motions. Become a ball handler that can control the game and see the court making your dribbling just second nature.

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