General Information
-Please practice on your own to help prepare for the season. Activities are included below.
-All players need to have a permission form and medical form (which includes a physical) completed before tryouts begin in November.
Schedule and Information Sheet
Basketball Practice Tips and Drills
Shooting
-Everybody loves practicing shooting. It is important to practice because the only thing that matters at the end of a game is which team has the most points on the scoreboard. You need to shoot well to score. Still, it isn't everything.
-It is important to practice proper form while shooting. Do not shoot from too far out or your closer shots will suffer.
-Keep your eyes on the target while shooting. Don't get distracted by people between you and the basket. Make sure your shoulders are square to where you are aiming.
-Make sure you are balanced when you are shooting. Your feet should be about shoulder width apart with your dominate foot slightly in front of the other foot.
-Keep your elbow in and follow through straight. Shooting properly involves bending in the right places and then straightening them out.
-Try to find a partner to shoot with. They can rebound for you so you can get more shots. In 10 minutes, you should be able to get 150-200 shots off.
-Stay moving. Don't always shoot from the same spot. If you have a partner, after you shoot, move to another spot to receive a pass.
-Try to shoot at game speed and not take your time to line up shots. The exception would be free throws. You need to have a routine you go through for those.
-Practice making some moves (shot fakes, jab steps, etc.) and/or dribbling up for a jump shot by jump stopping while you are practicing your shooting. You don't always get nice easy shots.
Ball Handling
-Ball handling is probably the most important aspect of basketball. Without good ball handling you cannot get open to score. Ball handling is not just dribbling and passing. It involves pivoting with the ball and being able to catch the ball as well.
-When practicing, always practice with your head up (not down and looking at the ball). You need to become comfortable enough with the ball to be able to look up at the court. In a game, you cannot afford to be looking at the ball.
-It is important to have good hands. One drill to work on your hands is passing the ball back and forth between your hands. It can be a kind of a squirting motion or more of a tapping motion. This drill is good because you can do it while watching TV.
-Other ways to help is to move the ball in circles around your head, waist, both legs, one leg, ankles, or in a figure-8 pattern amongst your legs. Don't forget to go in both directions. Keep your head up and move the ball quickly and forcefully.
-You can also bounce the ball between your legs, toss the ball into the air and clap as many times as you can before catching it, or toss the ball into the air and catch it behind your back.
-To work on dribbling with your weaker hand, stand in one spot and dribble with your weaker hand for a few minutes. If you do this activity regularly, your muscles will get used to the motion and it will become easier.
-Practice dribbling with both hands both quickly and slowly. Practice changing directions and speeds. When changing directions use the crossover dribble. The ball starts on one side of your body and you push it to the other side of your body keeping the ball low.
-Practice passing with a partner or against a wall. Practice throwing hard passes. Hard passes are harder to steal.
Conditioning/Defense/Rebounding
-It is important to be in good shape for basketball. Running,jumping, and cutting are important in basketball. It is hard to do a lot of defensive and rebounding work on your own, but try to work on it some.
-Running a few times a week will help prepare you for the season. Do some distance running 1-2 miles and some sprinting or shuttle runs. Changing direction quickly in basketball is important so any sprinting with changing directions is good for you.
-Jumping rope is an excellent activity. Single jumps or double jumping is great. Doing tricks is fine, too. Double under jumps are also very good. Try to see how many you can do without missing (endurance) or how many jumps you can do in a minute (speed). Jumping on one leg at a time will also help strengthen your legs.
-Jumping back and forth quickly over a line helps improve your foot speed. Squat jumps can help improve you leg strength. Jumping in patterns (W, X, box, etc.) can help improve your agility.
-Pushups and sit ups are important for building strength. Try to work on these multiple times during a week.
-Without someone else, practicing defense involves practicing defensive slide. Stay low like you are sitting down and quickly slide back and forth or in some type of pattern. It will make your quicker on defense.
-Playing 1-on-1 is great for defensive practice as well as working on offensive skills.
-Practicing rebounding is best done when you can practice boxing someone out. Alone, you can still practice most of rebounding by throwing the ball off the backboard and jumping up to get it. Try to get the ball at the highest point of your jump. Control the ball with strength and try to avoid bringing it too low.
