| Ball Handling |
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| Written by Coach R | |
| Tuesday, 01 July 2008 | |
 o Make sure you are holding the basketball with your fingertips. The palms of your hand should never be touching the basketball. o Spread your fingers apart, almost as far apart as you can. Get a wide grip on the basketball. o Always make sure you keep your head up when dribbling the basketball. Do not look at the ball while dribbling. o Do not dribble without a purpose in mind of what you are going to do with the basketball. o Always use the hand that is farthest away from the defense. That is why it is important to practice just as much with your weak hand, as you do with your strong hand. One tip I always give all my young players. If they want to be a great basketball player, and ball handler- hold a basketball in your hand daily, and nightly. Anytime you are free, hold the ball in your hands. Remember Pistol Pete Maravich? He used to sleep with a basketball in his hand, every night. Think he was a good ball handler? For you young coaches out there, maybe it is a struggle for you with what kinds of activities and drills you should implement for your athletes. Anything that involves a basketball should help. I personally like drills that use two basketballs. At a young age this drill would be too much, but if you are working with older kids, give them two basketballs, and let them go to work. It’s amazing how much work can be done with two basketballs. A few valuable drills that I like to use are the finger grabs, slaps, tipping, circles, and figure eights. With the finger grabs, it helps the player with their strength of the basketball. In the drill, the ball should never touch the player’s palms. He/she should hold with fingertips and rotate it back and forth from hand to hand. This drill is very easy to do, but helps with strength and agility. In the slaps drill, this drill is very easy, but once again helps a player get a good feel of the ball. This drill simply asks the player to slap or pound the ball as hard as he/she can, switching from hand to hand. Tipping is also a fairly simple drill. In tipping, the player simply tips the ball back and forth from one hand to the other. It is best to start this drill with both hands straight over the head, and slowly work their way down, tipping the ball back and forth. This drill is meant for the player to tip all the way to the chest, and then to the knees, and down to ankles, and then back up again. Make sure the player is keeping their elbow straight the entire time. Circles is a drill where it is important to make sure the players head is up the entire time, and not looking down. In this drill, have the player put his/her feet together, and circle the ball around both legs, and back. Then have them circle the ball around their head- then as he/she progresses have them combine the two and add in down the body, around the knees, around the ankles, and back. Make sure he/she is using the fingertips the entire time and not the palms. The last drill, the figure eight is a lot of kids’ favorite drill. With practice, athletes can get very quick at this, and feel like they are having a lot of success. In this drill have the player start with one leg forward and move the ball in a circular motion around the leg. Then have them do the other leg. After they have completed that, have them spread their legs out wide with the ball in front. Have them move the ball through their legs, like drawing an “8”. Make sure they are keeping their head up and using their fingertips. There are many great drills associated with handling the basketball. It is important that athletes are taught the right way from the beginning and always remember to practice the fundamentals the correct way. Doing that, and adding a lot of repetition, should help an athlete’s progress. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to get a hold of me. I have plenty of great drills that I did not include here! Until next time! Keep hoopin’!         Set as favorite Bookmark Comments
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