Staff Reporter
Basketball is undoubtedly a cool and exciting game to play in. It relies heavily on endurance, mental strength, and excellent physical shape. One of the things that you’d have to work on is your dribbling skills; these can get very annoying to master for most people, especially if you’re a beginner.
So, if you’re working hard on getting it right, then here’s how you can improve your dribbling at home to be as good as the pros.
Work on conditioning your body
You need to train hard and condition your body to the strains of dribbling; you can’t be put in a position where you throw a shoulder out of its socket or have your wrists and fingers injured in any way. So, it’s best to spend some time in the gym and get used to the workouts, but if that’s not possible, then you can go for various home workouts that can help you. You need to start doing push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and towel pull-ups to strengthen your fingers. With these, your body will get in top physical shape and you’ll be ready to take on anyone on the court.
Get used to the ball
Basketballs are unique and different from other sports balls. This is why you need to get familiar with how the basketball feels on your hand, its density, and its shape, so you can get used to having control. The manufacturers of the basketball models found on https://goalrilla.com/ design these balls with deep channel construction, which makes them soft to the touch but still gives players an enhanced grip. This means that you won’t lose the ball so easily unless someone manages to steal it from you. Having one of these composite basketballs at home can be perfect for practicing right and getting used to dribbling like a pro.
Do some drills
Ball exercises and drills can improve your skills tremendously while strengthening your body. These effective home drills of about 30 seconds can be perfect, but remember to work on your stance; you need to bend your knees without bending your back.
Here are some of the most notable ones that can be of use to you:
Pound-It-Out Drill
This drill makes you dribble the ball as fast and hard as you can, which means your stance will be close to the floor, and so will be the ball and your arm. The ball should be below your knee at all times.
Knee and Mid-Section Drill
You’re doing the same thing here; dribbling as hard as you can. But you need to lift your arm and adjust your stance to be just a little bit above your knee and your stomach.
Shoulder-Level Drill
This involves, again, the same motion, but this time you’re dribbling as high as you can up to your shoulder. You will notice that your speed is a lot slower compared to the other drills, but that’s okay since you’re lifting higher and working on those shoulder muscles.
Rapid Crossover Drill
This drill requires that you quickly pass the ball back and forth between your hands, at a level below your knee. It’s a great drill because it helps you practice control over the ball, making you work on not losing it at all.
Wall Drill
This is excellent for getting used to dribbling. You face a wall and start dribbling the ball between your legs, back and forth, then you shoot the ball to the wall, and then repeat. Do this a few times between your legs, then do the same again, but behind your legs with the crossover motion.
Two-Ball Drill
You will only do this right with two balls at hand, but you can also do it by rotating between both hands if getting another ball isn’t possible. You start by throwing the ball up then catching it with your hand. Remember that you should be doing this with your fingertips because that’s how you dribble effectively and strengthen your fingers at the same time. After that, you do all the drills again, but with two balls and both hands this time.
Dribbling skills are essential for every basketball player. On the court, you’re not just doing it to move around, you’re doing it while people are trying to take the ball from you. You need to master the ways to keep control of the ball, allowing you to skillfully bypass any defense and trick players into going elsewhere while you pass through. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be one step closer to shooting hoops and making history.
