The following tips will work on your quickness, agility, hand-eye coordination, and physical conditioning:

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #1: ENHANCING MOVEMENT

The ability to change direction quickly and move laterally or backwards with minimal loss of speed is contingent upon two factors: (1) an athlete´s ability to send a message from brain to the body about how and when to react; and (2) how well an athlete can coordinate upper and lower extremities while maintaining balance and speed of movement. Incorporating agility drills that focus on coordination and reaction time will help in enhancing movement efficiency.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #2: 17′S

A 17 is a very common conditioning practice . You start behind one of the sidelines. You run to the other sideline counting as 1 then you run back to count as 2. You do this until you reach 17. (Always ending on the opposite side from which you started). To be in very good basketball shape you should be able to do this in under 1 minute.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #3: BALL BOUNCED

Hold the ball in front of you with your legs spread wide. Bounce the ball hard between your legs so that it will come up behind you. Quickly move your hands behind your back to catch the ball. The harder that you bounce the ball, the more quickly you will have to move your hands.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #4: BALL JUMPS

Stand next to a basketball with your feet together. Jump back and forth (sideways) over the ball as quickly as possible. Go for thirty seconds, counting the number of times that you return to the starting point. Try to better yourself every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #5: BENCH JUMPING

Either face a bench that is about one and a half feet high or stand beside it. You can either jump over and back or sideways. Feet should be kept together. Go for thirty seconds and count the number of times that you return to the starting point. Attempt to increase the number every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #6: CLAP HANDS

Hold the ball behind your knees. Release it, clap your hands in front of your knees, then return your hands behind your knees and catch the ball before it hits the ground.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #7: COBRA

When you are practicing with a partner, you can work on your hand quickness with this drill. Both of you stand inside the jump circle in a defensive stance. Try to hit the inside of each other´s knees while remaining inside the circle. Whoever touches the inside of the other´s knees an agreed to number of times is the winner.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #8: FOUR SQUARES

Find a place on the floor where two line intersect. These create four areas that are numbered one through four. Jump 1-2-3-4, then 4-3-2-1. Count the number of times you return to square #1 in thirty seconds. Try to better yourself every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #9: FRONT-BACK-CATCH

Pass the ball from in front of your body to behind it between your legs. Move your hands quickly to behind your body to catch the ball before it hits the ground. Once you have caught it, pass it back to the front of your body through your legs and catch it again.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #10: HAND CLAPS

Start holding a basketball. Toss it up, clap your hands twice, then catch the ball. Repeat, clapping twice. Continue to increase the number of times that you clap your hands. See how many times you can clap your hands and still catch the ball.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #11: JUMP ROPES

One of the most important pieces of equipment a basketball player can possess is a jump rope. Daily use of a jump rope will develop stamina, leg strength, agilty and coordination, timing, quickness, and hand-eye coordination. All of these are extremely important to becoming a good ball player.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #12: LANE SHUFFLE

The lane shuffle is a progressive drill that is outstanding for developing body control and coordination. You shuffle across the foul lane from one line to the other, first touching the line with your outside hand, the second time touching the line with the inside hand forcing a crossover step, then, the third time, touching the line with both hands. The drill can be run for a set time period with players counting the number of times they touch the lines.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #13: LINE JUMPS

Stand beside any line on the floor. With your feet together, jump forward and backwards over the line, then sideways back and forth (two separate exercises). Repeat for thirty seconds, counting the number of times that you return to the starting point. Try to better yourself every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #14: MIMIC MOVES

A basketball player´s quickness and agility program would include drills which emphasize lateral movement, change of direction, and sudden starts and stops (with or without ball) because these movement patterns are specific to the sport of basketball. By implementing these drills, inevitably, a basketball player´s skill acquisition is enhanced.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #15: REDUCE GROUND TIME

To develop quicker movements for various drills, a basketball player should strive to reduce the amount of time spent on the ground when performing drills. Whether a player is fresh or fatigued while performing a drill, the goal should be to move the feet quickly and forcefully while constantly spending the least amount of time possible on the ground.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #16: SIDE CATCH

Place the ball between your legs with one hand holding it in front of your body and the other behind. Let the ball go and switch the position of your hands, front to back and back to front, and catch the ball before it hits the ground.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #17: WALL PASSING

A good way to increase both hand quickness and hand-eye coordination is with wall passes. Stand in front of a wall and pass the ball hard against the wall, catching it upon its return. As you improve your hand coordination, decrease the distance you stand from the wall so that the ball will come back more quickly and you have to react more quickly.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am and is filed under Tips and Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.