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Tip of the Week

If you plan on succeeding at the high school or college level you must be able to get along with your coaches. If you earn the reputation of being a hard player to coach, your basketball progression will come to a screeching halt!

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Repetition is the key to mastering skills. In sports it's all about muscle memory. In other words DOING IT TIME AND TIME AGAIN. We need to also realize that to become great we must practice skills CORRECTLY. Practicing skills with improper technique never improves a player. Players often find repetition as boring and redundant. Greatness, however, is usually a player that understands the importance of repetition. Repetition leads to habit. Habit leads to reflex. At Game Point we believe repetition is very crucial in developing good skills. By developing good skills, we in return will develop good players. The goal is to create a correct habit that can be produced instinctively under great pressure.

Each Week we will have a different Training Tips to improve your Game!

 

 

	1.  Stare down your defender. Crouch low and take a step towards the basket.		2.  Dribble the ball quickly in-between your legs to your other hand.
	3.  Fake slightly in the direction you just sent the ball. This should get your defender off balance.		4.  Instead of crossing the ball back in front of you push the ball right back underneath the same leg and blow by your defender.

 

1.  Crouch low and slowly dribble the ball back and forth between your hands a couple of times in front of you. Watch out for the steal.

2.  Dribbling slowly can sometimes put your defender at ease, especially if he or she is a bit winded from the game.

3.  After hypnotizing them suddenly dribble in between your legs and fake hard.

4.  Quickly cross the ball back over to your other hand and drive hard to the basket.

 

1. Take a really quick step towards the basket and if possible lean into your defender. This will push the defender back.

2. Quickly cross the ball in between your legs and fake a move in the direction you just sent the ball.

3. This will make the defender think your going to put a move on him and he/she will stay low.

4.  While your defender is a step back and low to the ground pull up for a uncontested three pointer or jumpshot.

 

If somebody else leaves their man to guard you after the crossover that means somebody is open.  Keep a lookout for the open man and be ready for the pass or to take it strong.

Make sure to not look at the ball as you are dribbling or performing crossovers.  You need to be able to read your defender while you dribble.  You might want to practice simple dribbling skillz before you start trying the crossover.  Being able to dribble with both hands easily is key.

Make sure you switch up the directions you choose to go to the basket.  If you always go to your right your defender will stop biting on the fakes.  Always keep your defender guessing, right or left?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Couple of Fun Shooting Drills that will improve your game:


"Put Back" Drill. This drill is actually a game played with two players. One player takes seven outside shots in a semi-circle around the basket while the other player tries to tip in any missed shot. If the shooter makes a shot it is worth one point. If the rebounder tips in a missed shot they get two points. After seven shots players switch positions. First player to 21 points wins.

Note: For a tip or putback shot to count the rebounder must have both feet off the ground.

This drill is great for anticipating missed shots and establishing the proper position for a putback shot or tip. It is, also, a great for practicing your shooting concentration and accuracy since every time you miss a shot it provides your opponent with an opportunity for two points.


"Range Finder" Drill. This drill is best with three players and two balls (rebounder, feeder and shooter); however, it can be done with just two players (rebounder & shooter). The shooter keeps shooting the ball along one of the designated shooting spokes (area). Any time they make three shots in a row, they take a step backwards (away from the basket). Any time they miss three shots in a row, they take one step forward. You will quickly find your comfort or sweet spot.
 

Early in the season determine your shooting range for all five spokes (right baseline, left baseline, right wing, left wing and straight out from basket). Each spoke will be different. During the season check your spokes periodically as needed. During a game work hard to create a open shot within you range for each these spokes. Don't let your ego or outside pressures take you outside your range.

Free Throw Drill To improve your free throw shooting try this game. Shoot free throws three at a time. Keep score by scoring one point for every swished (no rim contact) shot, no points are scored on a made free throw that hits the rim, and a minus one point for a missed shot. A perfect score is 3 points. You can make it a competitive drill by challenging teammates and friends.

Once you strive for excellence (swishes) in free throw shooting, you will definitely become a better free throw shooter during games.

There are tons of 'How to Jump Higher' programs out there, and perhaps someday we'll review some of them. Or, create our own. For now we present a list of jumping exercises that over time should help increase your vertical leap. More jumping exercises and other guides coming in the future.

NOTE: These exercises are known to help one's physical fitness and increase leaping ability. If you have any sort of injury, have any health problems, have any questions, or you feel any pain while exercising, then stop, and consider consulting a doctor.
 

Don't do jumping exercises 7 days a week. Four or five days per week is enough. If you do it every day, you may give up after a week or two. The idea is to keep exercising for months, or years, consistently. Note that we have not organized an actual jumping program. Inside Hoops is providing exercises that should help your fitness and leaping ability.

• WARMING UP

Before starting the exercises, warm up your muscles. Stretch properly, and jog around for a few minutes.

If you have a jumprope, use it. Jumping rope definitely helps your conditioning.

Running up and down stairs for a while is very useful as a warmup, or a full exercise. Don't do too much or else you may wear our your legs. Use it as a quick warmup, or a full exercise.

• JUMPING EXERCISES

Deep Knee Bends --- Be standing. Slowly bend at the knees while keeping your back straight. Slowly crouch down as low as possible (it shouldn't hurt) and slowly rise back up. Do this 15 times. Over time increase to 20, 30, etc.

Deep Knee Bend Jumps --- Be standing. Crouch down as described above but fairly quickly, almost touching your bottom to the ground, then explode upwards as high as you can. The moment you land, immediately crouch and launch back up again. Do this 15 times, and when you can, increase to 20, 30, etc.

Toe Raises --- Stand regularly, then raise up onto the tips of your toes. Lower back down. Don't just rock up and down, do it slowly (not too slowly) but steadily. Repeat 30-50 times.

Toe-Raise with Weights --- If you have any sort of weights, holding/wearing them while doing these toe raises will help. Use small weights (a mere 5 or 10 pounds is fine) and work your way up.

Stomach Crunches --- We believe that sit-ups are bad for your back. Stomach crunches, where while lying on your back, using your ab muscles and keeping your back straight, you rise up just enough to lift your shoulders off the ground, are better. Do them often - perhaps for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night.

Jumping Rope--- Jumping rope definitely helps your vertical leap. Jump rope while watching tv or something. Make it a habit.

As our way of saying thanks for visiting our website we are offering a free step-by-step report on how to become a dominant three-point shooter. No tricks, no "hot" shortcuts that will immediately turn you into a great shooter, just proven basketball knowledge that coaches use to teach their players to become better outside shooters. All you have to do is enter your email address and this free report will be sent to you immediately!