Along with passing and shooting, dribbling is easily one of basketball’s most imperative skills. To become a prime level baller, you need to be able to dribble to set yourself up for a pinpoint pass or shot.
So, grab your top quality basketball gear, as here are five tips for ensuring the perfect technique:
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Look up, and keep your head up
This is one of the harder dribbling elements to learn, and can be really frustrating at first, especially as we instinctively want to drop our heads and watch the ball. But if you can learn to dribble without looking down, you will be able to open up the play like a pro, finding passes and shots with ease.
So, practise dribbling without looking down, and you will certainly become more comfortable with the ball in your hands as time goes on, and the skill will become second nature to you!
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Speed up your dribbling
Practise dribbling at a fast tempo without losing control of the ball, as this will not only help you keep up with the game’s fast pace but also help you set the pace (something the true pros can do with considerable ease!). So, practise dribbling the ball with speed, and this will help you become your team’s playmaking talisman.
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Learn to dribble with both hands
A player who can only dribble with one hand is a predictable player, and one that the opposition find incredibly easily from whom to win the ball. Why? Because of two reasons:
- The opposition already knows to focus their ball stealing on your preferred hand, and;
- They can force you to use your wrong hand, and if you are not confident with it they will win the ball with considerable ease.
So, practise dribbling the ball in your non-preferred hand, as well as crossing the ball from left to right, becoming more confident the more you practise.
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Enlist dummy defenders
To take your training to a new and exciting level, as well as one that will help you take on real-life defenders, try using particular obstacles, or “dummy defenders” when practising your basketball dribbling skills.
The main reason behind using dummy defenders is to focus on your footwork: you will have to think about how you will move around the defender (or in this case, a witches hat, cone, marker or something completely different!) in order to become a top notch dribbler.
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Always challenge yourself
One of the best ways to challenge your own dribbling skills is to pick a starting and finishing line for your challenges, performing each drill of your choice going from end to other, switching hands on the return. Always keep your head up and move the markers around to ensure that you are practising in tighter and larger spaces.
How quickly can you get from one end to the other? Can you dribble the ball quickly within that space without losing control of it? How many times can you get from one end to the other without losing control of it? By practising each drill in these spaces you will be able to better handle stressful on-court situations, and you will also be able to better understand the more nuanced aspects of controlling the ball in competitive gameplay.
This, along with the other aforementioned tips, are sure to help you improve your sports skills and become a dribbling expert, something that will take your overall gameplay to awesome new skill heights.
