Basketball Training: Skills, Speed, and Strength » staying low in basketball http://www.richstoner.com The purpose is to provide information to basketball players and coaches that will help increase basketball skills, strength, and speed. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:34:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Explosiveness, Efficiency, Conditioning, and Staying Low http://www.richstoner.com/explosiveness-efficiency-conditioning-and-staying-low http://www.richstoner.com/explosiveness-efficiency-conditioning-and-staying-low#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:41:31 +0000 Rich http://www.richstoner.com/?p=967 Looking at the title, it would be hard to argue against these characteristics being important to the game of basketball.  Players who stay low can react quicker and get to spots  before their offensive or defensive opponent.  Consequently, these players will be more explosive defensively and offensively.  Staying low allows for an explosive first step which is a necessity when trying to beat your opponent to a spot defensively but also when trying to explode past them off the dribble.  Explosiveness shortens the ground that needs to be covered which consequently leads to efficiency on the court.  It will limit the number of dribbles needed to cover ground and the less dribbles needed when trying to improve a passing angle, get a shot off, or get to the rim the more efficient and effective a player will be.  Finally, being in great condition on the court will allow players to play for longer periods of time and also allow them to be more effective at key points in the game like down the stretch when most players legs start to wear down. 

The following video shows a drill that covers every characteristic that is mentioned above.  In the video, the player starts off by rolling the ball to half court and forcing her to stay low.  She then needs to pick the ball up and attack the rim in as few dribbles as possible.  This will aid in her explosiveness and efficiency.  Finally, she comes back the other way for a full court layup.  Again trying to push the ball ahead and limit her dribbles for efficiency.  The fact that the drill itself is a full court up and back drill ensures that the player is getting properly conditioned in a way that is specific to basketball.  Be sure to run this drill from both sides of the court in order to work on exploding out with each hand.  You can also turn this into a jump shooting drill on both ends of the court or have the player finish at the rim on one end and take a pull up jumper on the other.  Be creative, the possibilities are endless.  Enjoy!

]]> http://www.richstoner.com/explosiveness-efficiency-conditioning-and-staying-low/feed 0 Staying Low in Basketball http://www.richstoner.com/staying-low-in-basketball http://www.richstoner.com/staying-low-in-basketball#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:17:44 +0000 Rich http://www.richstoner.com/?p=745 The game of basketball when played properly is played from low to high.  While playing, basketball players should be in a low, balanced position.  This shoud be the norm througout the game whether they are on defense or offense.  Good players with the basketball, handle the ball low to the ground and then finish high at the rim or on their jump shot.  Good defenders will be in a low athletic stance in order to move affectively with the man that they are guarding.  Basketball players who are constantly standing up only make themselves less efficient, slower players.  By standing straight up during the course of play, the player is now forced to drop back down in order to elevate for a jumper, layup, or rebound.  This extra movement, makes them a slower player.   Despite this, many young players today refuse to get low while playing the game.  The reasons could vary from laziness, to a lack of strength, to not ever practicing staying low.  Whatever the reason is, it needs to be fixed!  Staying low is one of the most fundamental aspects of basketball that needs to be worked on, and it needs to be worked on in all facets of the game.  Getting low defensively, getting low while handling the ball, and getting low while beating your defender which is the subject of the video below.

In this basketball training video, the player is executing a drill which emphasizes the low position that is necessary as a player goes by their defender.  In this case, the player will make a move at the cone (the defender) in a low enough position that she can knock down the cone, then she must hold that position for a two count, and then push off the back leg for one dribble and finish high into her jump shot.  Holding the position will help her body understand the low, explosive position that she needs to get to in order to explode past the defender low and stay low until she elevates up into her jump shot.

]]> http://www.richstoner.com/staying-low-in-basketball/feed 0