5 Tips To Improve Your Basketball Game
5 min readBasketball is an amazing game and one of the most popular sports around the globe. It is the 3rd most enjoyed sport sports in the United States of America and boasts a staggering 825 million fans all over the world. Its popularity keeps increasing day by day thanks to the games fast pace and adrenaline rushing moments. Basketball is catching even more public eye, and more and more kids are getting into playing the sport. A lot of the credit goes to the massive hits it gets through social media, as various celebrities of our generation are more inclined towards this astounding pastime. All this popularity accounts for more and more players stepping up and wanting to play ball competitively. With the numbers increasing, it is getting difficult for average players to get a spot on the team. To make the cut, you should always try to improve your game and stay on top of the food chain. You, being a baller, should always try to be the best and always challenge yourself to raise the level of your game. Here are 5 easy tips that will help you improve your basketball game and make you stand out on the court.
- Wear proper attire and use proper gear
Basketball is a game that requires very minimal attire and gear. Might as well wear them properly as they do actually aid and help a player perform on the court. The attire you absolutely need is a proper basketball team uniform and the right basketball shoes. The basketball team uniform consists of a basketball jersey and basketball shorts. These are both made of lightweight, sweat-absorbent, breathable fabrics that keep you dry and cool. The fitting neither too tight nor too loose and so allows you to carry out a wide range of motion with a lot of ease. The sleeveless nature of the basketball jersey and the relaxed style of the basketball shorts helps players in moving swiftly without any hindrance or obstruction. Next, we come to basketball shoes. Basketball shoes have ankle support and a very good grip, heck these were designed to support players playing basketball. These shoes help players carry out a wide range of motion and moves without slipping and keeps them up on their feet. These also protect the players’ ankles for sustaining an injury and helps the players jump higher.
- Prioritize strength and conditioning
Basketball is a fast-paced strenuous game that takes quite a toll on the body. The game lasts just 48 minutes and is divided into 4 quarters of 12 minutes each. Even though the match time is lesser than a lot of major sports, because of the quick-moving nature of the game, the players have to run up and down the court and have to be in constant motion at all times. The game requires a lot of jumping and twisting and requires a lot of strength. Most players start slow when the season starts, but if you train and focus on building strength and stay in optimum shape off-season, you will definitely start the season with a bang and have a huge impact from the get-go. You will be leaps and bounds ahead of all the other players in terms of stamina, speed, and strength training will also enhance your ability to perform different skills to beat the opposition. Plus, if you ask any coach what they would want in a player, I’m pretty sure all of them would tell you that they’d want a strong player with great stamina. Prioritize strength and conditioning along with other skills, trust me you’ll be a regular in no time.
- Eat clean and fulfill the needs of your body
I must admit everyone just loves to chomp down on delicious junk food, but if you really want to improve your game, you better stick to eating clean. While I know it is very hard to maintain a clean diet, it, however, is the difference between good and great. A proper clean diet full of essential nutrients provides you with amazing energy and internal strength, which will help you perform on the court and make you a better player. Taking a proper diet also helps a player with recovering from fatigue and injuries.
- Practice dribbling and shooting as much as you can
We’ve heard the old saying “practice makes perfect,” and we’ve got a million examples to prove that it’s absolutely true. In order to be a good basketball player, you should master the art of dribbling and shooting. Keep practicing your dribbles and crossovers, and then try to dribble the ball without looking down. Get comfortable with the ball in your hand. Once you get the feel of it, you’ll know the exact force you need to apply for different types of dribbles, and this would also help your shooting. Find your range and perfect the spots from where you feel you’ve got the best scoring chance. Once you perfect those areas, you should now increase your shooting range and master other areas of the court. Shooting and dribbling are two main components of the game, and once you keep on practicing, you’ll definitely improve your overall game a lot.
- Get plenty of sleep
Most players do not give much importance to it, but getting enough sleep can be the difference between being good and being great. Lack of sleep can cause you to be sluggish on the court, and you might not have the energy to keep up with the strenuous requirements of the game. The players getting enough sleep would simply have better focus and would be running laps around you. This is why getting proper sleep(seven to eight hours of sleep ) is imperative for anyone who wants to perform well and constantly wants to improve his game.
These are the 5 simple and easy tips that, if you follow, will help you raise the level of your game pretty quickly and help you accomplish your basketballing goals. Who knows, if you keep following them properly and incorporate other drills and train according to your coaches, you might even be the next NBA star.