Basketball Tip
Presented by Greg Harcos, Co-Director
Nike Basketball Camp Jesuit High School
3 Tips to Help Hone in on Your Basketball Skills
Basketball requires specific skills that allow players to contribute to their team in a number of ways. Every team requires players to be athletic, well-conditioned, physically strong, and mentally tough. Some of these attributes are out of one’s control, but most of them can be worked on and help you succeed in defense, dribbling, scoring, passing, transitioning, rebounding, wining the 50-50 ball, and supporting your teammates. You need to work hard at your craft to give yourself the best opportunity for success because there’s always someone out there that is working as hard, if not harder than yourself. Here are three tips on how to hone in on your skills from Greg Harcos, director of the summer basketball camps in Sacramento.
1. Conditioning, Quickness and Strength
Conditioning, quickness and strength are all attributes that may be difficult to improve, but can be worked on through repetition and hard work. To stay in your tip-top shape, it’s important to take care of your health by sleeping and eating well. Speed drills, weightlifting, and quickness workouts are also a great place to shift your focus and can help you improve your level of production in these areas.
2. Mental Toughness
The best way to improve your mental toughness would be to put yourself in situations where you are uncomfortable and competing at a high level. This will make things much easier when you are going against your peers. Surround yourself with players who understand the game so that you can gain knowledge on spacing, movement, defense, and other aspects of the game that are more of a feel and are harder to teach. Go play at your local park where the competition and basketball IQ is higher. You will be amazed at how much you can learn by stepping outside of your comfort zone.
3. Ball Skills
In my opinion the most ground can be gained in these areas through practice. Take two to three hundred shots a day, but make sure they are quality and that you have been taught the correct form, release, and rotation. Do not limit yourself to just being a shooter, slasher, post, etc.
Work on your footwork and how you attack the basket. This will give you more opportunities to score.
Master your dribbling on your own, there are hundreds of ball skills that you can incorporate into your daily routine. If you are not proficient at handling the ball, this game becomes much harder, and your window of opportunity diminishes.
You should also work on your passing skills. The number of ways an individual can pass will limit their success. Be able to bounce pass, chest pass, hook pass, pass with left and right hands. The more options you have, the better the chance you have of delivering the ball through quick adaptions to pressure and defense.
Basketball is a great game, yet you need to equip yourself and add the correct habits to your arsenal to be able to compete at a high level. Check out more basketball skills tips like these ones and join Greg Harcos at the Nike Basketball Camp in Northern California this summer.