Basketball Defense

Coaching basketball defending is essential for all teams and organizations. It does no good to teach the team game before a child has been introduced to and hopefully mastered well enough the individual aspects of defense. Any of you coaches reading this article, having other concepts on how to train for getting back quickly, while transitioning to defense, please feel free to write in with your training tips. I describe how I have four rebounders getting into place while always having one player back for quick defensive help. Now it’s just a matter of teaching how to play and be effective as a faction.

Hey – if you want to rest, rest on offense! More advanced zone defensive teaching will incorporate many techniques and stunts to raise effectiveness and efficacy of the zone, but right now I’m appealing to the coach who uses zone defense. * They really like zone defense and don’t want to play man; The shooter (unless the farthest player back toward the defensive end–safety), when possible, will follow his/her shot. The team is big, therefore zone really serves to pack the middle, or other reasons of strategy; At all levels of instruction, we must teach the individual before we teach the team, and this just can’t happen by starting right from with teaching zone defense.

Make deflection moves away from the dribblers body. We should also have taught how to play in help defense when playing from-the-ball, playing from our own man while at the same time being in a position to help the player who is playing on the ball. The closest player to the ball attempts to tie up the player with the ball, or at least slow down the advance of the ball. “Triangle Defense” goes back to the precepts taught early on in man defense. If he dribbles, hound him.

You practice this the same way you practice fast breaking. Use a stop-watch and time the retreat. Do it over and over and over again, from different rebounding/ turnover scenarios. It must become spontaneous and second nature. Is anyone looking around to see what happened to the ball? All players should know at all times, where the ball is and in who’s possession. If defenders have been taught well in man principles, the most important arm is the one in the passing lane between the ball and the defender’s man. If there is a defender with no one in his/her zone, then obviously one more zone is over-loaded. The game revolves around the ball, so I teach watching the ball. How far to accompany an offensive player moving toward the ball is a coaching decision, but if we treat from-ball movement such as flashes, meeting the player and cutting from their flash, the defense will be very tight.

Go to Coaching basketball defending for some quality advice.

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In this article I am going to explain a few of the best vertical jump exercises to slam dunk. Having an enormous vertical leap allows you to get high over the bigger guys, avoid having your shots blocked, and get a better look at the rim. When using these exercises alongside other main exercises in a full program, you will find that through consistent training, you can expect consistent gains.

Jump Shrugs

The term shrug comes from the end movement where you shrug your shoulders up. Start as if you are about to lift a bar, thrust upwards and focus on shrugging those shoulders. Do 5 or 6 in each repetition.

Shock Jumps

Find a box or platform that is about the same height as your jumping capability. Begin on the box and step down to the ground. Concentrate on landing on the balls of your feet and try not to bend the limbs to absorb contact. Keep a fixed leg.

Depth Jumps

The same as shock jumps, but once you have contacted the floor jump back up as high as you can. Make the contact with the floor as short as possible.

Squat Jumps

Very simple but an effective way of building up the thighs. Squat in a low position and leap upwards. You can alter the method by attempting to leap over distance thus doing squats that are like a long jump. Your thighs will tire quickly. Do one at a time or do a succession of long jumps where you land and quickly do the next jump. This will help increase your speed and agility.

calf exercises

The muscles below the knee are a vitally important towards achieving a high leap. Many below the knee exercises can be used including skipping with a rope, raising your toes from the ground (roll your foot up from the heel of the foot and point the toes upwards) and also stair climbing. You should run up the stairs at speed for the best effect. Always run up the stairs whenever you get the chance. Race up those stairs.

One Leg Hops

Practice height and distance jumps one leg at a time. Aim to beat the previous jump each time. When your leg gets tired, change legs and continue. Initially the exercise seems simple but will prove most beneficial if you push yourself to achieve distance as well as height.

Basketball Dribbling

The behind the back dribble is really an effective skill to master for it easily blow pass your opponent when you use it. Offensively it is used to advance the ball in the back court, to make a drive-in to the basket, and to free oneself from close or congested defensive areas. The dribbler may bounce the ball with one or two hands. Hand is wide spread on the ball – contact is made with the pads of the fingers only. If a player dribbles, stops his dribbling action, and then dribbles again, he is said to have discontinued his dribble. The behind the back dribble is an easy to master skill because it only takes a minute to learn it. Many players get into the bad habit of bouncing the ball every time they receive a pass. Low dribble is used for control and to keep possession of the ball when closely guarded.

A Good Player knows the following:

• Control Dribble
• Knees are bent.
• One foot ahead of the other to protect the ball.
• Speed Dribble
• Push the ball out in front of you.
• Use movement in the open court.
• Head is always up.
• Dribbling mistakes occur when the dribbler watches the ball.
• All moves must be done quickly and low to the ground.
• The temptation to dribble is strong.
• High dribble is used for speed.
• Dribbling is one of those skills that takes lots of practice.
• Dribbling is done mostly with the fingers, which are spread, keeping the palm of the hand off the ball.
• You will notice that the palms of your hand are not used in shooting, passing or dribbling! This enables a player to get that fingertip control which is so important in basketball.
• The weight of the body is forward and on the balls of the feet.
• The head is kept up so that the player can see his teammates and opponents.
• A good dribbler learns to keep his body between the ball and his opponent.

Basketball tips here soon

Generally sports evolve over time from pastimes that people started to play informally. Not so with basketball, history indicates that it has the honour of being a planned or designed game. Basketball was invented in December 1891 by the Canadian clergyman, educator, and physician James Naismith. He wanted to devise a game that emphasized skill rather than one that would depend solely on strength.

Naismiths students, who were studying to be Pe teachers, were justifiably irritated doing just excercises and tumbling during those long New England winters. They were desperate for active team games. His first intention was to bring indoors, outdoor games such as soccer and lacrosse.

Naismiths formula for basketball was founded in a basic child’s game he had played outside his one-room schoolhouse as a child, which was called “duck-on-a-rock”. The game involved attempting to knock a “duck” off the pinnacle of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Early basketball evolved from this idea. The first basketball match was played with a soccer ball, vegetable baskets and nine men to each team. This first basketball game is understood to have been played Dec. 21, 1891. By 1897-1898, teams of five took the job of standard.

About James Naismith:

Naismith eventually was promoted to master of the physical education department at Kansas, and designed the first golf course in Kansas. His favorite sport was fencing at which he was excellent. He created basketball for fun, as a basic physical education activity, not as something to be taken seriously! Naismith often said, “Basketball is just a game to play. It doesn’t need a coach you don’t coach basketball, you just play it.”

Nevertheless, he was promoted to basketball coach at Kansas in 1900, and was beaten in his first game 48-8 to Nebraska. He coached for eight years and his won-loss record was barely 50%. But he began a strong Kansas tradition.

For years, the Kansas Jayhawks had one of the most winning programs in all of college basketball. Phog Allen (Kansas, record: 590-219), Adolph Rupp (Kentucky), and Dean Smith (North Carolina) were all Jayhawks. Naismith never patented his game, and did not make any money from it. Legal friends advised that he get a patent, however he was always expressly against the idea. Later his bank balance was so bad that his home in Kansas was repossessed by the bank. Dr. Naismith worked with the famous football coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg. Naismith’s personal diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, tell us that naismith was not confident in the new game he had designed as many other created pastimes had failed before it. Dr Naismith never benefitted monetarily from basketball but his name will live for being the man who invented basketball.