Top 5 Best Practices for Basketball Teams
Recent research published by MDPI on basketball places basketball among the top 3 team sports in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Western Pacific nations, and Southeast Asia. In basketball, the tactics of a team often decide who wins.
Through persistence and practice, teams in basketball can improve their game. Good practice drills help improve ball control, shooting, footwork as well as offensive and defensive movement. Read on Champs Hoops to find the top basketball workouts to boost your team's explosiveness.
Why practice drills are important
To succeed in basketball, it takes coordination, leaping ability and speed. Whether the skills are natural to a player or require a lot of effort, including these essential drills into the daily practice significantly improves their overall game.
The team practice drills help improve their fundamental skills. From youth players to professional teams, basketball drills instill on-court skills like ball handling, dribbling, passing, shooting as well as offensive and defense movements. As a coach or player, you can use these basketball workouts to boost your team's explosiveness.
Practice drills in basketball help players of all skill levels. These drills improve passing techniques, dribbling, hand-eye coordination, conditioning, speed and muscle memory. Players and teams can prepare for in-game situations while challenging them to improve their skills with the proper practice drills.
5 best practice drills for basketball teams
In basketball, discipline and hard work complement each other. Often, a hard-working basketball player will show a sense of self-discipline. As well, a disciplined player values hard work in attaining goals.
1. Coordination and conditioning drills
The game of basketball is associated with constant motion. So, when a player is not in the right condition, they will have a hard time keeping up with other players. Players need to be in the right physical condition. Although young players may be in good condition, they still need to train with other team players to be in top shape. Conditioning is part of each practice.
Some of the practice drills in physical conditioning include: circling basketball around the waist, throwing a ball in the air and catching it, box run relay, relay races and catch the tiger's tail.
2. Dribbling drills
For a beginner, controlling the ball when dribbling is a tricky thing. Often, new basketball players tend to bounce the ball hard, making it go too far from them losing the ball to an opponent. The key to proper dribbling is ensuring the player keeps the ball in close proximity when running in the desired direction.
One way a team can improve their dribbling skills is through the right-left drill. The drill requires a team to line up on one side of the court. Once the coach signals, the players dribble to half-court using their right hands. After passing the half-court, players switch their hands to dribble the ball to the end of the court using their left hands.
Another way is to dribble around cones. It is an easy drill that helps develop ball coordination and control. It divides the team into 2 or 3 groups, with each group lining up in a straight line. Cones are placed every 5 yards. The coach will signal when players can start dribbling around the cones. When a player passes the last cone, they shoot at the basket. The first group to finish the drill wins.
Also, a coach can pair players in a one-on-one dribbling drill, with each pair having one basketball. One player begins on the baseline with the ball (offense) while the other stands 3 feet away (defense). The offense should dribble the ball to the half-court line while the defense tries to steal it.
3. Passing drills
Today, good fundamental passing in basketball is slowly becoming a lost art form. However, a team that rightly passes the ball and locates the open man will have an edge in basketball. Sometimes, players may be unwilling to work on their passing skills since the drills are boring. Nevertheless, to get a good shooting position, you first need to learn to pass.
The most common passing drill is the partner pass, where players pair up. They line up several feet apart, facing each other. Each pair should pass the basketball between themselves. The drill starts with the chest pass before graduating to the bounce pass, focusing on good passing fundamentals.
Also, to practice passing, coaches can divide a team into groups of 3 players, forming a triangle. The players then pass the ball to one another in a clockwise rotation. Later on, the coach will signal the players to pass the ball counterclockwise while emphasizing proper passing.
Last but not least, the monkey in the middle drill helps players hone their passing skills. Players form a circle with one player in the middle. The aim is for the players forming the circle to pass the ball to any other player while the player in the middle tries to intercept the ball. After intercepting the ball, the player in the middle will choose the new player to go in the middle.
4. Shooting drills
The only way of becoming a better shooter in basketball is through practice. It requires the player to learn the correct shooting fundamentals. If the technique is wrong, even with all the practice in the world, your shooting skills will not matter. So, as a player, you know the fundamentals of shooting a basketball. Since players in a team have different skills, a coach usually has several drills that help establish players who need help.
In these drills, a coach will spend time instructing players to ensure players do not develop bad shooting habits.
A standard drill for practicing shooting in basketball is the "Dribble Down and Shoot Drill (Jump Shot)." Usually, it requires a team divided into two groups, with each group lining up at the half-court with the first person in each group having a ball. Once the coach signals, the first person dribbles the ball towards the basket stopping at a strategically placed cone to make a jump shot.
5. Defense drills
In basketball, defense is an essential aspect of the game. In basketball circles, there are claims that defense wins games, which is true in most cases. For instance, by playing decent defense, a basketball team limits the opponents' scoring chances, increasing their own chances of scoring. Regardless of the athletic skill or age of a player, any player can be a good defense.
