First, get fit. Basketball is perhaps the most demanding of all sports. It's a game of quickness: fast starts, sharp cuts and turns, acceleration and deceleration, and jumping. The heart of the game is running. It's estimated a player will run a total of three to five miles in a game. This running includes sprinting up and down the court on fast breaks, chasing players cross-court, breaking through picks, and scampering behind a series of screens to get a shot off.
You don't achieve this level of fitness in practice. It comes after-hours, with no one around to cheer and prod you on. This is what separates the haves from the have-nots. You don't have to drink raw eggs like Rocky, but you have to have that kind of dedication to move up the ladder. Most basketball games are decided in the final few minutes, when most gas tanks read empty. Find your second wind and lead your team to victory!
Secondly, learn how to shoot free throws. A vast majority of contests are decided at the charity stripe. In fact, check out the box score of most games and the team with the best free throw percentage is often the winner.
So, how do you practice? We all know that shooting free throws is Shaq's Achilles heel. But did you know it's been reported that he hits around 70% in practice? You sure wouldn't know it from the games.
Far be it for us to second-guess the NBA's Most Valuable Player, but perhaps he's not practicing the way most coaches recommend. Most players can hit a high percentage of their free throws when that's all they are doing, just standing around shooting, but that's not how the game is played.
Here's a drill that will help get you in shape and hopefully, improve your free throw shooting. At the end of practice, when you are tired, start running suicides (that's start from the base line, run to the free-throw line, touch it, run back to the baseline, touch it, run to half court, touch, back to the baseline and continue to the other free throw line and baseline). Do this as fast as you can, just like in a game. Do it three times, with only a short amount of time between efforts.
Now, you are ready to shoot. Your heart rate should be elevated. You should have a nice sweat going and your legs are probably a little weak. If you are part of a team, here's the drill: You get two shots. If you make them both everyone goes home. Miss one everyone does one suicide. Miss them both, and everyone does two. Now, that's pressure. You've got 11 other tired guys who want to call it a day hoping, praying you've been practicing your free throws. Obviously, you can do this drill on your own and you probably should, as you never know when you may be asked to sink a pair of free throws with five seconds left to save the game.
Finally, if the other team can't score, you can't lose. Become a strong defender. Sure, defense isn't glamorous, but it's one of the most important things coaches care about. Being a good defender means more playing time, period.
Most every team practices the zig-zag drill. That's where a coach will hold a ball in one area as you back pedal in that direction with your hands up in a defensive stance. You do this all the way down the court.
Don't just go through the motions here. Try to react as quickly as you can as if you are actually in a game. Also, keep those hands in the air. You can bring your hands down much quicker than you can raise them -- if you are vertically challenged, having your hands up will make you appear taller and thus more intimidating.
Late in a game, it may be hard to keep your hands up, that's why you need to train. Another good drill for this stems from a football exercise. Run hard in place with your hands above your head as you turn a quarter each time the coach blows the whistle. For this exercise to really work, you've got to put your all into it, and especially keep up those hands. Generally speaking, you could be on defense for at least 45 seconds, so you must consistently keep your hands up for that length of time.
Sure, doing these drills isn't much fun, but winning is. It's often the team with the players who give it their all during practice that has the smiling faces when the final horn sounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment