tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8213298060389132689.post-61260061430572241922007-04-24T08:57:00.000-07:002007-04-25T23:56:04.157-07:00The one thing I would discourage players from watching are the "And 1" mix tape videos. It is amazing what some of those guys can do with the basketball, especially dribbling. In a real game, 95% of what those guys do is illegal. If you are a player and your dream is to join that team, then this blog is definitely not for you. What I'd like to talk about in this article is the basics of dribbling.<br /><br />Dribbling is a lot like shooting, there are mechanics involved and once you master the mechanics, dribbling becomes almost second nature. The proper way to dribble the ball starts with top of your dribble. You almost want to hold the ball like you are about to shoot it, but your palms are facing down. You also want to grip the ball like you are going to shoot, in other words, the center part of the palm should not be touching the ball. As you push the ball down towards the ground, its almost as if you are shooting the ball straight down. You want to make sure you rotate your wrist like you do when you shoot, except with dribbling, you do not want to hold the follow-thru like you do on your shot. Once the ball releases from you hand and rolls off your finger tips you want to prepare your hand for catching the ball back on the way up. You want to make sure your fingers are spread so that the ball has a bigger target to hit on the way back up. As you practice dribbling, you will start to get a feel for how the ball will travel back up based on the way the ball left your fingers. When you obtain the ball again on the way back, again, make sure you grip the ball without the center of your palm touching the ball and bend your elbows a bit to absorb the contact of the ball reaching your hand. At this point, you are ready to dribble the ball again. The more you dribble the basketball, the more you will get a feel for how the ball reacts when you dribble the ball.<br /><br />Begining basketball players should just stand with their feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Dribble the ball with your right hand for 100 dribbles. Try your best to keep your head up and eyes looking straight ahead. This might be difficult at first, but make this your goal if you cannot achieve this. After 100 dribbles with the right hand, do the same thing with the left hand. If you or your players are struggling with this drill, then have them continue until they can do it with relative ease. After this, gradually introduce walking with the dribble. Again, try to keep the head up and eyes looking forward. Once you or your players master this, then graduate to running. As you move faster with the ball, the dribbler must start bouncing the ball ahead of them so they can run at the ball otherwise the ball will be left behind.<br /><br />There are goggles available on the market that cover the lower portion of your eyes, so you cannot see the ball when you are dribbling. Here is a link to a version of this product: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BYS19?ie=UTF8&tag=bashoo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0000BYS19">Dribble Specs (EA)</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bashoo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0000BYS19" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br /><br />Hope this describes the basics of dribbling to you. If players cannot master these simple aspects and dribble without watching the ball, then they will have a harder time in the games because they will have to focus on dribbling and not where their teammates are on the court.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=bashoo-20"></script><br /><noscript><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/noscript?tag=bashoo-20" alt="" /></noscript>lakeshowdawghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03396525825276193251noreply@blogger.com