My bucket list for improving my athleticism. (And my basketball skill set)

[Omega_Ra1der]

Well, I want to improve my basketball skill set which is only driving and that is weak. I figured the cause was the video gamer belly which taken most of my lower body therefore cutting my stamina. So my list to improve.

Conditioning- This hits me hard. Combined with my low speed and you get a bad conditioning. So I want to improve this and I can do so by doing roadwork. And speed increase is a bonus.

Agility- With my height, in my age class, I am considered a PF to Sg. Since sf and Sg are often needed to have somewhat agile. And it is important in my skill set. I can improve this by shuffling back and forth. This can also help with my defense.

Vertical- Need to go higher for layups and I have a 11' vertical and I am about 5'7.5 or so. The ball would need to go up a fair high to reach the basket. Can help with jumper. How can I improve this is... I don't know a proper method. But regardless I need to improve to a 20' or higher.

Moving on to my fundamentals.

Jump shot- I really want to improve my shooting and my body strength is holding me back so I need either jump higher or have a good accuracy. But I need to build leg muscles and practice shooting straight.

Ball control/dribbling- I have bad ball control therefore I lose the ball often. My reason for this is dribbling high. I need to break this habit and do more dribble moves on the move.

Passing-I have the mentality of pass first due to my grade 8 team style and my only problems are power and partly accuracy. To do improve this, all I need is a friend or a target.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and tell me any tips to improve myself like workouts.

[mde2001]

Well, I've played a fair bit of basketball with varying levels of success. I can't give you any sort of work out tips as I don't really work out but I guess I can give a bit of advice.

With the jump shots I can advise is practice as much as you can. My jump shots aren't great and I miss a fair few of them but practice is really the only way to get better at them.

Ball control and dribbling are a bit different. I played as a guard for a long time (until I had a growth spurt which made my basketball skills decrease significantly...). I think that the most important thing is to not try to be too fancy. People who try to do hard things often don't find much success while doing so (unless if they have great control). If your a tall guy it can be harder to dribble well but once again practice will make your life easier.

I get the pass first mentality as I had it for a while (and still do to some extent). Passing is a good option but not always the right thing to do. When you get the ball take half a second as assess your options (while in a triple threat position preferably). If you have an open lay-up you should take it even if you aren't super confident. Really learning to trust yourself is a very important aspect of your game as will make decisions quicker and more accurately.

Overall, just have fun with it. Unless if you are doing it at a really high level it is meant to be enjoyable so don't work yourself too hard or stress about it too much. You'll actually improve more if you want to play and not be as good if you are forcing yourself to.

Well that's just my two cents. I'm not exactly an expert.

[Guest]

just watch space jam

[TRHStatement]

I've played my fair share of basketball (SF/PF) and here's really all the advice I can give you.

The only way to make a good jump shot is practice. Get a form that you are comfortable with and just shoot. Practice doesn't make perfect, but it makes it a hella of a lot better. The only tip I can give on that is make sure the ball comes off of your fingertips. Try to get a good arc in there as well.

The only way to increase vertical is just working out your legs. There are some exercises you can do like touch the backboard (or the net) 10 times and then gradually increase that number. Also you can reach as high as you can on your tip-toes for 10 times until that number gradually increases. DONT SKIP LEG DAY!

For dribbling you can set up some cones and do weaving drills, or do the dribbling with 2 basketballs thing. Practice. As for passing, like mde said, it's all about confidence. If you have an open layup, take it! Open shot? Pop it! It's great to have that mentality (because I don't) because you can get an offense moving but it's pointless if you're giving up free points.

Hmm, I think that's really it... oh yeah.

RUN 4 YO LIFE! LIKE GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN! BALL IS NOT LIFE!

But in all seriousness, you gotta run. That's where the speed and stamina come in. Sadly, suicides will be that one friend that you hate, because they never go away. Also time yourself to actually see improvement. Speed=/=Agility. Get those feet moving.Get everything moving. Up-downs or whatever their called will help if you want that extra push.

A friend who could practice/train with you would work too. Just make sure that person is willing to put in as much work as you to help you both succeed. And if not, make sure this friend pushes you to do better. You can do this alone, but a personal motivator never hurt anybody.

I don't know how serious you about bettering yourself but that's an essential gist to how to start. And at the end of the day, have fun with it. This is my small input right here.

[Maelstrom]

Running sucks, but you gotta do it.

Other suggestions: do box jumps to train leg strength and jump height at the same time.

I didn't play BB much but I too sucked at dribbling. That never changed. Did decent at taking shots though, but that's always a skill you want to develop anyways.

You could always just try dribbling every day to and from classes or wherever you're allowed to bounce one just to constantly, unconsciously work on those skills. But watch out for the friends and asshats who think stealing the ball is a good joke. Hell, keeping them from doing it might actually help you out.